ECHL Florida Everblades

Blades close out 2010 with 4-3 win over Devils

December 31, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


TRENTON, NJ - The Florida Everblades (21-13-1) used a three-goal third period surge to erase a third period deficit and pick up a 4-3 win over the Trenton Devils (12-14-2) on Friday night at Sun National Bank Center.

After a scoreless first period that saw the Devils outshoot the Everblades 12-10, the teams combined to score three second period goals. The Everblades opened the game's scoring at the 8:13 mark on Matt Beca's sixth goal of the season. Off a faceoff win back in their own end, Mike Egener and Ross Carlson paired up to feed the puck to the neutral zone where Beca out-skated the Devils' defenseman before lifting a shot over the glove of Trenton goaltender Dave Caruso from the slot.

Trenton however responded with a pair of late second period goals to carry a 2-1 lead into the intermission. The first of the tallies came at 13:17 when Matt Lombardi deflected a shot from the blue line by Taylor Vichorek past Everblades net-minder Bobby Goepfert.

The Devils then snagged the lead a couple minutes later when Jeff Prough notched his 10th goal of the season at 16:24. Prough was able to convert a quick one-time shot from the slot off a pass from Dan Charleston who battled the puck free from the right corner.

The Everblades began their comeback early in the final period scoring a pair of goals in the first four minutes of the final stanza. Cedric McNicoll registered the first of the goals at 3:34 by one-timing a shot from the bottom of the left circle past Caruso. Mike McKenzie made the play possible with his pass from the right circle to McNicholl. Beca also recorded an assist on McNicoll's fifth goal of the year.

After tying the game, the Everblades came back to grab the lead for good just 25 seconds later when McKenzie got in on the goal-scoring action wristing home a shot from the right circle at 3:59. The goal, which was his 14th of the year, was set up after Beca was able to poke the loose puck at the top of the circle to a waiting McKenzie. The third member of the line, McNicholl also chipped in an assist.

Florida kept the pressure on and just before the half-way point of the period Francis Lemieux notched the eventual game-winner on nice give-and-go with Mitch Fadden. After feeding Fadden a pass in the left circle, Lemieux took a pass back on the inside of the right circle where he snapped a quick shot between the pads of Caruso and into the back of the net for his 14th goal of the season at 9:38.

The Everblades held off the strong game-ending surge by Trenton, although the Devils did manage to trim to score down to one when Justing Pender's slap shot from the top of the left circle got through traffic and over the glove of Goepfert with 26 seconds remaining in regulation.

In goal, Goepfert improved his record to 13-7-1 by stopping 34 of 37 shots, while Caruso saw his record fall to 4-6-2 after allowing the four goals on 32 shots.

On the power play, the Everblades finished the night 0-of-5, while Trenton closed out the game 0-of-3.

Individual tickets to all 2010-11 Florida Everblades home games are on sale now! Tickets are available at the TIB Bank Box Office Monday - Friday from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. - 2 p.m. Fans can also purchase tickets through TicketMaster by logging onto www.ticketmaster.com or calling 800-745-3000.

The Everblades return to action on Saturday, January 1 when they travel to Trenton to take on the Devils at 7:00 p.m. from Sun National Bank Center. The Everblades' next home game is Wednesday, January 5 when they host the defending Kelly Cup Champion Cincinnati Cyclones at 7:30 p.m. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

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ECHL Stories from December 31, 2010


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