ECHL Florida Everblades

Blades come-from-behind to sweep Aces with 4-3 victory

Published on December 1, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (13-6-0) mustered a come-from-behind effort on Saturday night to earn a 4-3 victory over Alaska (10-8-1), sending the Aces to their fifth straight loss, while winning their third straight game. The Everblades used four consecutive goals, including two just 23 seconds apart early in the third period to collect the victory at Germain Arena in front of a crowd of 6,128. The win improved Florida's home record to 9-1-0 this season.

The start didn't look good for the Everblades as the Aces carried the majority of the play in the opening period, out-shooting Florida 14-7, and grabbing a 1-0 lead. Bryan Miller capitalized on Eric Neilson's deflected shot to fire the puck from the right circle past Everblades goaltender Justin Peters at 13:59 of the opening frame.

The Aces carried the momentum into the second period and 7:25 into the stanza, added to their lead when Neilson banged home a rebound from the top of the crease after Peters stopped Vladimir Novak on the doorstep. The goal was the first of the season for Neilson and gave Alaska a 2-0 advantage.

The Everblades however dug deep and scored the game's next four goals over a span of 14 minutes. 'Blades captain Ernie Hartlieb started the scoring spree with his ninth goal of the season, one-timing a centering pass from Mathieu Melanson past Aces net-minder Kris Tebbs at 8:45. Melanson's assist ran his ECHL leading point-scoring streak to 12 games. For the third straight game, the Everblades picked up a big late second period goal, this time to tie the score at two. Melanson notched his team-leading 13th goal of the season at 17:09 by wristing a shot from the right circle under the cross bar. Steve Ward and Brad Zancanaro, who now holds a six-game point scoring streak, assisted on the tally.

Early in the third period, with the teams skating at 4-on-4, the Everblades exploded for two goals in the first three minutes. Melanson notched his second of the game, taking a pass from Hartlieb and unloading a big slap shot from the top of the left circle at 2:19. Just 23 seconds later, Joe Guenther tallied his first goal of the season by poking a loose puck in the crease past a fallen Tebbs to give the Everblades a 4-2 advantage.

Aces head coach Keith McCambridge called his timeout after the Guenther goal to settle his club, and just 23 seconds later, Josh Soares picked up his team-leading 12th goal of the season with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that beat Peters high on the glove side at 3:05 to cut the Everblade lead to 4-3.

The remaining 17 minutes of the third period carried a playoff type tempo. The Aces continued with the pressure, but as seen in the previous two games, Peters stood out, making several large saves down the stretch to keep the Aces off the board. Once again the Everblades penalty killers also did an unbelievable job killing off all four Alaska power plays in the third period, and overall holding the Aces to 0-for-8 in the game. Over the three-game series, the Everblades killed off all 21 Alaska power plays, and have now killed 59 of 60 opponent power plays at Germain Arena this season.

Peters notched his fifth consecutive win by stopping 39 of 42 shots faced to improve his record to 9-3-0. Tebbs, making his first start in the three-game series, took the loss allowing the four goals on 23 shots.

The win allowed the Everblades to close out the season series between the clubs with a 4-2-0 record.

Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Thursday, December 6 when they travel to Gwinnett to take on the Gladiators at 7:05 p.m. from The Arena at Gwinnett Place. The Everblades next home game is on Tuesday, December 11 vs. the Texas Wildcatters. 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.

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ECHL Stories from December 1, 2007


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