Growlers are in fight for playoff lives

Newfoundland trails Florida Everblades 3-2 in ECHL Eastern Conference finals

The Newfoundland Growlers are in for the fight of their lives — well, their playoff lives at least.

The Growlers enter Tuesday’s game at the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s with the Florida Everblades needing a win to force a Game 7 in their best-of-seven ECHL Eastern Conference finals.

It will be the first time this postseason that Newfoundland has faced elimination after Florida won Game 5 of the series Sunday afternoon.

When asked what his team has to do to prepare for the biggest game of the season, forward Pavel Gogolev told Growlers play-by-play man Chris Ballard that they need to keep things the same.

“Just have a good practice, a good dinner, a good nap and just do the same thing,” said Gogolev. “I don’t think we did anything differently (Sunday) in the loss. It was an honest battle and that’s why coming into Game 6 just prepare yourself the same way and try to win the game.”

The series has been a backand-forth battle between the two teams. After Florida won the first two games, the Growlers won two straight of their own heading into their fifth game loss.

Game 6 is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m.