It was a successful start to the playoffs as the Florida Everblades beat the Elmira Jackals 4-3 Tuesday night at Germain Arena.

The victory, thanks to a balanced offensive attack and 60 minutes of effort, gives the Blades a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five opening round series. The puck drops for Game 2 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Germain Arena.

“We played hard all game,” said a happy Blades coach Malcolm Cameron. “It was a war out there and it always comes down to mistakes and battles and foot races, and things like that. We did a good job tonight.”

The Blades got off to a fast start. Just 39 seconds into the contest Ryan Lang gathered a bouncing puck and fired it past Jackals goaltender Chris Holt (23 saves) to put the Everblades up 1-0 and set the tone of the contest.

Florida (39-25-9) continued its solid play throughout the first period and extend the lead with just under four minutes to go when Eric Lampe scored off a pass from Ross Carlson.

Elmira eventually got on the scoreboard midway through the second period. The goal came immediately after a faceoff when an apparent goal by Elgin Reid was waved off by an offside violation. Unlike recent games, however, the Blades refused to let the goal get to them and kept their offensive foot on the pedal.

Continued pressure paid off late in the period as a Jackals player took a slashing call with 2 1/2 minutes to play in the period, giving Florida its first power play chance. Though they failed to convert, the Everblades kept the pressure on until Scott Hotham gathered a Carlson shot that rebounded to his stick for the score to regain a two-goal lead.

There was no quit in the Jackals, who took a more physical tone in the third period hoping to generate some offense. With just two minutes left in the period, that physicality paid off for the Jackals, who got the puck past Blades net minder Chris Beckford-Tseu (24 saves) to make it a one-goal game.

That goal led to a fast and furious final two minutes. The Jackals pulled the goalie to try to tie the game, but it backfired when Reid scored to give the Blades a two-goal lead again.

The Blades made a crucial mistake after that, giving the Jackals a power play opportunity with less than a minute to play. After pulling Holt again, the Jackals scored to get back within the final one-goal margin.

“They are going to try everything they can (to win),” Lang said of the Jackals’ desperation. “They have a lot of offense on their team. We just have to be aware of those open guys in the zone and make sure we don’t give them back door goals.”

The Blades and Jackals head to Elmira for game three on Friday with games five and six (if necessary) this weekend.