via Sarah Hobday

The South Carolina Stingrays fell once again to the Orlando Solar Bears 2-1 in overtime and have been swept out of the Kelly Cup Playoffs. The Stingrays finished the regular season with 29 more points than Orlando, but that did not matter in the playoffs. This is the second straight time the Stingrays have been swept out of the playoffs as they were swept in last year’s Kelly Cup Final.

In the fourth and ultimately deciding game, the Solar Bears took the lead in the second period on a power play goal from Sa Jardine with 8:33 to play. It seemed the Stingrays were done as Cal Heeter was robbing the Stingrays left and right to keep Orlando in front including this save on a rebound in front late in the second period.

"ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME?!!?" Cal Heeter with a big stop to keep the @OrlandoHockey lead at 1-0 over @SCStingrays as the second period winds down.#KellyCupPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/aTft6cdQVs — ECHL (@ECHL) April 22, 2018

Capitals prospect Mason Mitchell, who scored the only other two goals for the Stingrays in this series, was in the penalty box and Orlando was looking to put the series away but Patrick Megannety scored short handed with 13:43 left to play in regulation.

Both teams would have their chances, but Jean Dupuy would score with less than three minutes remaining in overtime to clinch the series for the Solar Bears.

The Stingrays lost this series for two reasons. One being the power play. The Stingrays scored zero times on 22 opportunities. The other was simply they ran into a hot goalie in Heeter. Heeter made 149 saves on 152 shots good enough for a .980 save percentage. Not much the Stingrays could have done differently.