Mavericks pull even in Kelly Cup Finals with 5-1 win in Game 2

Jack LaFontaine stopped 35 shots to help lead the Kansas City Mavericks to a 5-1 win over the Florida Everblades in Game 2 of the 2024 Kelly Cup Finals on Saturday in front of a standing-room only crowd of 5,807 fans at Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Missouri.
 
The 2024 Kelly Cup Finals are now even at one game a piece.
 
Box Score
 
One night after tying the Riley/Kelly Cup Finals record with eight goals, the Everblades got off to a quick start once again when Zach Berzolla notched his first goal of the playoffs with a long wrist shot from the top of the circles just 1:30 into the contest.
 
Kansas City pulled even with a power-play goal at 10:09 of the opening period as Jeremy McKenna was able to beat Florida goaltender Cam Johnson with a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the left-wing circle for his 10th goal of the playoffs, tied for the postseason lead.
 
The Mavericks took their first lead of the series 18 seconds into the second period on their second power-play goal of the night when David Cotton fed a cross-crease pass for Max Andreev, who one-timed a shot past Johnson for his fourth goal of the playoffs.
 
Kansas City extended its lead to 3-1 with its third power-play goal of the night 8:21 into the second period. McKenna centered the puck to Jacob Hayhurst at the hash marks, and he beat Johnson with a wrist shot for his fourth postseason tally.
 
Cole Coskey and Andreev added empty-net tallies in the final two minutes to set the final score.
 
The series shifts to Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida for the next three games beginning with Game 3 on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Catch all of the action live by tuning into FloHockey.
 
NOTES: The loss ended Florida’s ECHL record seven-game Riley/Kelly Cup Finals winning streak … Florida had been 12-0 when scoring first in the 2024 Kelly Cup Playoffs prior to Saturday’s game.
 
2024 Kelly Cup Finals
Game 1 – FLORIDA 8 at Kansas City 1
Game 2 – Florida 1 at KANSAS CITY 5 
Game 3 – Wednesday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Florida
Game 4 – Friday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Florida
Game 5 – Saturday, June 8 at 7:00 p.m. ET at Florida
Game 6 – Monday, June 10 at 7:05 p.m. CT at Kansas City (If Necessary)
Game 7 – Wednesday, June 12 at 7:05 p.m. CT at Kansas City (If Necessary)