KELLY CUP FINALS: Blades enjoy day in Vegas, but ready for Game 1 Monday - Naples Daily News

Kelly Cup Finals: Everblades spend Sunday enjoying Las Vegas

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LAS VEGAS â€" With a full day to kill on Sunday, the Florida Everblades didn’t spend it in meetings or film sessions. Instead the team went out and enjoyed the city. What better way to shake off some pre-Kelly Cup Finals jitters than riding a roller coaster off the side of a building 1,000 feet up in the air, right?

Florida will begin its first Kelly Cup Finals series since 2005 on Monday night in Las Vegas, against the Western Conference champion Wranglers. Other than the challenge of facing the team that just eliminated last year’s defending champions, a host of other hurdles have cropped up during the week.

A long travel day, a three-hour time difference, and back-to-back road games are all part of the deal for the Everblades, who embraced all the factors Sunday.

“We didn’t want to spend the whole day sitting around the hotel or in the casino,” Florida Everblades coach Greg Poss said from the top of the Stratosphere amusement park on Sunday. “We wanted to get the guys out and do a little team bonding and also have a shared experience.”

After checking out some sights and sounds and enjoying some gravity-defying rides on top of the 1,000-foot high Stratosphere, Florida held a light team practice Sunday evening.

Poss said that despite having some fun on Sunday, his team is more than ready for the start of the series.

“We know that they’re a tough team and they have our full attention,” Poss said. “We’ve had a week to get ready and I think both teams are probably ready for the series to get going.”

By the time Monday’s game starts at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, Florida will have had a full nine days off since eliminating Kalamazoo in the Eastern Conference Finals. Florida captain Mathieu Roy said there’s a fine line between rest and rust, but he thinks the time off will serve his team well.

“Everyone has bumps and bruises at this time of the year,” Roy said. “So to get the extra rest is good for us and gives us a chance to go in at full strength.”

The only player on Florida’s roster who may not be able to play due to injury is forward Leigh Salters, who has been out since Game 1 of the Kalamazoo series with a lower-body injury. Poss said Salters will be evaluated following Monday’s morning skate to determine whether or not he can return to the lineup.

The Wranglers come into the series with an even longer rest period, having eliminated Alaska nearly two weeks ago. But Las Vegas also has a shorter bench, listing just 18 players on its playoff roster compared to Florida’s 23.

Former Florida Everblades forward Eric Lampe, who is tied with the Everblades' Cedric McNicoll for the league lead in playoff scoring, leads Las Vegas. Both players have 16 points, but Lampe has done his with goal scoring (six) while McNicoll has played the role of facilitator (13 assists).

The two teams boast similar statistics both offensively and defensively, but Florida’s David Rutherford said that will all go out the window come Monday night.

“Because we haven’t played them before it’s going to be a new experience,” Rutherford said. “We’ve both watched film and looked at numbers, but in order for us to be successful we have to play our game and that hasn’t changed.”