Mavericks take 2-0 series lead with 5-2 win

The Kansas City Mavericks held serve on home ice with a 5-2 win over the Florida Everblades in Game 2 of the 2026 Kelly Cup Finals on Saturday in front of a standing-room only crowd of 5,768 fans at Cable Dahmer Arena. Kansas City leads the series 2 games to 0 as the series heads to Florida next week.

Box Score

One night after a 6-0 victory, Kansas City opened the scoring just 17 seconds in when Bobo Carpenter broke behind the Florida defense and beat Cam Johnson for his 10th goal of the playoffs. It was the third quickest goal from the start of a game in Riley/Kelly Cup Finals history.

Florida pulled even with its first goal of the series on a two-man advantage at 15:33 of the second period when Carson Gicewicz, stationed at the top of the crease, tipped an Anthony Romano shot past goaltender Dylan Wells for his ninth postseason goal.

The Mavericks regained the lead 1:30 into the second period when Jake McLaughlin skated all the way into the Florida zone, and beat Johnson with a wraparound on the left post for his third goal of the postseason.

Kansas City extended its lead to 5-1 after two periods courtesy of three consecutive power-play goals. Marcus Crawford scored the first of the tallies at 8:26, beating Johnson with a slap shot from the blue line following a face-off win from Jakov Novak. David Cotton followed that up with his fifth playoff goal at 9:07, sliding a rebound past Johnson, and Jackson Jutting completed the run with a one-timer at 14:35.

Jesse Lansdell cut into the Everblades’ deficit 49 seconds into the final period, pushing the rebound of a Hudson Elynuik shot past Wells for his fourth postseason goal.

The series shifts to Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida for Game 3 on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Catch all of the action live by logging on to FloHockey.

2026 Kelly Cup Finals
Game 1 – Florida 0 at KANSAS CITY 6
Game 2 – Florida 2 at KANSAS CITY 5
Game 3 – Wednesday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Florida
Game 4 – Friday, June 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Florida
Game 5 – Saturday, June 13 at 7:00 p.m. ET at Florida (If Necessary)
Game 6 – Monday, June 15 at 7:05 p.m. CT at Kansas City (If Necessary)
Game 7 – Wednesday, June 17 at 7:05 p.m. CT at Kansas City (If Necessary)