All good things must come to an end, but the way they end can be a bitter pill.

The Florida Everblades quest for a fourth straight Kelly Cup championship came to a devastating halt on Tuesday night with a 6-0 loss to the Trois-Rivière Lions in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. It is the first time the Everblades have lost a playoff series since 2021.

“It was not a good night to have an off night,” Everblades coach Brad Ralph said.

The series was already an uphill climb with the Everblades dropping the first two games in Estero. They took two out of three north of the border to stay alive and force a sixth game. But as was the case in Games 1 and 2, they could not solve Trois-Rivière goalie Luke Cavallin and the Lions defense.

“The problem is, we scored three or four 5-on-5 goals all series,” Ralph said. “So credit to their defense and their goaltending. They did a tremendous job. They blocked a lot of shots, and we didn’t get a lot of secondary opportunities. They defended really well.”

It was also a rare moment to see a Florida defensive collapse. It was the first time that the Everblades lost a playoff game by a 6-goal deficit since 2019.

“It’s a pretty embarrassing way to go out,” Everblades forward Kyle Betts said. “It’s tough because you battle hard all year, and then you lay an egg. It’s gonna hurt for a long time.”

It’s excitement in the Province of Quebec, however. The Lions will compete in the Kelly Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history, facing the Toledo Walleye. It’s also the first time that a Canada-based team has vied for the title since the Newfoundland Growlers won it in 2019.

Both offenses attacked the net evenly through the first period, but it was the Lions who drew first blood. With less than 5 minutes left in the period, with the puck dumped into the corner, Everblades defenseman Connor Doherty checked Trois-Rivières forward Logan Nijhoff into the boards. That sent the puck sliding loose along the wall behind the net. Trois-Rivière right winger Justin Ducharme slid the puck around the corner.

It was then between Trois-Rivière defenseman Jacob Paquette and Florida center Andrew Fyten to get to the puck in the corner, which Paquette won and sent it into the slot. There, the lefty Ducharme took the puck, turned to his right, and sent it to the five-hole, giving the Lions a 1-0 lead.

“We talked about scoring first,” Betts said. “It was going to be big. Too many times in the series we were chasing it. And they scored first, and I felt like after that we were just chasing the game, trying to force stuff, instead of just letting play develop, and you can’t play that way. And it cost us.”

The Everblades started the second period with a flurry, but the shots were not getting through. The Trois-Rivière defense constricted to block the crease, and Cavallin sent away anything that got through them.

Things turned midway through the period. Ducharme slipped between the Florida defenders unseen until it was too late. Anthony Beauregard passed the puck from blue line to blue line to Ducharme, who got the breakaway goal, shooting low and to the left.

After the ensuing face-off, it felt like a Trois-Rivière power play, as the Lions were maneuvering in the Florida zone and the Everblades were unable to clear. Florida defenseman Jordan Sambrook had the puck and passed up ice to Fizer to start up the offense. But the pass was too soft, and Trois-Rivière forward Xavier Cormier, a former Everblade, was standing at the blue line like a defenseman.

Cormier hustled to the puck and dropped a pass back to Nicolas Guay near the corner. Guay sent it back to Alex Beaucage, who took it to the top of the slot, swatted to his left, and sent the puck over Johnson’s glove hand, making it a 3-0 game.

But things hit the skids in the third period. On a penalty kill, Trois-Rivière defenseman Wyatt McLeod slipped a pass to center Tyler Hylland, who was skating to the left of the Florida defenders. It looked as though Johnson had initially stopped it, but it slid between his legs and into the cage.

Ralph pulled Johnson for an extra attacker with about six and a half minutes to go, but Hylland struck again, scoring on the empty net. Then Tommy Cormier, Xavier’s brother, put one more on with less than 30 seconds to go, a breakaway with Johnson back in the net.