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Florida Everblades

Blades see home win streak end with 5- 4 loss to Gwinnett

March 26, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (35-24-8) saw their eight-game home winning streak come to an end after the Gwinnett Gladiators (42-20-5) reeled off four third period goals en-route to a 5-4 victory on Wednesday night at Germain Arena. The win for the Gladiators was their fourth straight over the Everblades this season.

The Everblades came out firing on all cylinders and quickly took the lead 1:39 into the first period when Mathieu Melanson dug the puck free from a goal mouth scramble and skimmed the puck through a crowd of Gladiators bandaging their goal to tally his 28th goal of the year. Credited with assisting Melanson were Adam Taylor and Ernie Hartlieb with their 5th and 37th assists respectively.

The remainder of the first period produced intense back-and-forth play, including six penalties - three charged to each team. However, the concentrated fury did not produce any additional goals, leaving the Everblades up 1-0 after one.

Entering into the second period, the Everblades took advantage of the time remaining on a Gladiators' penalty when Derek Damon lifted the puck into the net for his 24th goal on the season after a nice give-and-go with Preston Callander. Hartlieb notched his second assist of the night to help boost the Everblades to 2-0 only 53 seconds into the second period.

The intensity continued into the second period and the Gladiators finally put a number on the board when they benefited from an Everblades turnover in the neutral zone and Tomas Pospisil recorded his 17th goal of the year with Matt Anderson and Mike Hamilton garnering the assists.

The Everblades responded to re-gain their two-goal lead at 15:34 when Preston Callander recovered a blocked shot by Gladiators goalie Craig Kowalski and plugged the puck it into the net from the crease. Damon and Brad Zancanaro picked up the assists on Callander's 19th goal of the season. The Everblades limited Gwinnett to just four shots in the frame while firing 13 on net to carry a 21-14 shot advantage and a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. The period also generated an additional seven penalties between the two teams, keeping consistent with the intensity of the first period.

The Gladiators began their four-goal barrage early in the third period to gain momentum. Seven seconds into Gwinnett's sixth power play of the game and 2:43 into the third period, the Gladiators narrowed the gap by one with a goal by Bryson Busniuk, putting the score at 3-2.

Once again however, the Everblades bounced back and for the third time in the game opened a tow-goal lead by answering at 6:13 when Zancanaro deflected a shot by Damon from the right circle off Kowalski's pads and into the net to put the Blades up 4-2. This goal put Zancanaro at 10 for the season with the lone assist harvested by Damon.

The Gladiators this time responded by exploding for three goals in less than five minutes midway through the period. Gwinnett again tapered Florida's lead to one when Ryan Mahrle scored on a power play goal at 10:49, gaining in on the Everblades and putting the score at 4-3. Assisting Mahrle were Pospisil and Anderson.

Gwinnett then tied the score after a turnover in the neutral zone allowed them to rush the Everblades end. Jeff Campbell evened the score when he fired the puck from the high slot past Florida goalie Kevin Nastiuk at 14:35. With the tension between the two teams raised and the momentum with the Gladiators, Gwinnett completed the come-back to take the lead when they scored again at 15:36 after Hamilton snapped a hard wrist shot into the net from the top of the circles.

Despite their best efforts, which included having the goaltender pulled for an extra attacker and a power play in the final 1:11, the Everblades were unable to recover and fell to the Gladiators 5-4 despite outshooting them 32-24.

Nastiuk saw his record fall to 4-5-2, while Kowalski added to his league leading win total by improving to 28-10-2.

On the power play, the Everblades closed out night 1-for-7, while the Gladiators finished 2-for-7.

Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Friday, March 28 in Estero to take on the Gladiators for the second time in their three-game series. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Individual tickets to all Everblades home games are on sale now! Stop by the Germain Arena box office to reserve your seat for all the exciting action! Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

Stars:

1) Mike Hamilton - GWT

2) Tomas Pospisil - GWT

3) Derek Damon - FLA

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