Entering this weekend’s two games against the South Carolina Stingrays at Germain Arena, the Florida Everblades weren’t facing must-win situations, but they were facing a “need to win” situation, against a divisional foe who entered the weekend four points ahead of the Everblades in the standings.

“There has to be a sense of urgency,” said Blades coacj Greg Poss after Friday night’s loss, “We’ve been saying it for the last six weeks. The players are aware of the situation (in the standings).”

Along with that sense of urgency, Poss also emphasized that the current dynamic of the team had changed from the fast-paced high scoring one, to one where the current roster of players had to learn how to play a patient, defensive style of hockey.

Fortunately for Poss, the team got the message, as both a sense of urgency and the grind-it-out style of defensive hockey that the team must now play to make the playoffs, materialized in Saturday’s 2-0 win over South Carolina.

“That is how we have to play right now,” said Poss, “We have to play defense, we have to slow the game down.”

“We were a run-and-gun team most goals in the league, but because of call-ups and injuries we have to play defense first, chip (the puck) in, wait for our chances and be real patient.”

Patience was the key to Saturday night’s victory.

In that meeting, the Stingrays and Blades skated to a scoreless contest for more than the first 57 minutes of hockey, before defenseman Bobby Raymond took a pass from Alexandre Imbeault, firing the puck into the far corner of the South Carolina net to put the Blades up 1-0.

Mike McKenzie added an empty netter with 35 seconds to play, and the Blades would leave the weekend trailing the Stingrays by the same margin as when they came to town four points.

On the defensive side of things, goaltender Bobby Goepfert ;ed the way, stopping all of the 28 shots he faced. As a team, the defensive highlight came in the second period, where the Blades held South Carolina to only six shots for the frame.

“After (Friday night’s) game, we didn’ have a lot of confidence,” said Poss. “We needed this win, but this is the way we have to learn how to play right now, because we are missing a lot of our offensive punch. We have to morph into a different kind of team, a defensive minded team, if we want to make the playoffs, and we have to get our confidence back slowly.”

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“There has to be (a sense of urgency),” said Blades coacj Greg Poss after Friday night’s loss, “We’ve been saying it for the last six weeks. The players are aware of the situation (in the standings)”