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ECHL Florida Everblades

Blades Doubled-Up by Walleye, 8-4

January 30, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


TOLEDO, OH - The Florida Everblades (26-21-2) suffered their worst defeat of the season as the Toledo Walleye (19-20-3) snapped their two-game losing streak with an 8-4 victory on Sunday evening at Huntington Center.

Toledo started and finished off the opening period with goals sandwiched around an Everblades tally.

Just 22 seconds into the game the Walleye jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Mike Hedden was sprung on a breakaway that saw him slip a shot between the pads of Everblades net-minder Shane Owen, who was making his professional debut.

After allowing the early goal to Toledo the Everblades settled in and midway through the period saw Francis Lemieux add to his ECHL leading point total with his 23rd goal of the year at 10:01. The play developed with David Fischer quickly moving the puck ahead from the Everblades zone to Alex Imeault who gave a nice one-touch pass to Lemieux. From center ice Lemieux skated into the left circle where he fired a good hard wrist shot past Walleye goalie Jimmy Spratt.

Just when it looked like the teams would enter the first intermission tied at one, Evan Rankin intercepted a clearing attempt by Owen in the right corner and threw the puck out in front where Scott Fletcher fired it past a scrambling Owen and into the net with 1.3 seconds remaining in the period.

Toledo then opened up a 3-1 lead with a power play goal at 6:35 when Kyle Rodgers took a pass from Zack Torquato at the inside of the left circle where he one-timed a quick shot past Owen.

As we've seen many times this season however, the Everblades put together a strong finish to the end of the second period and picked up goals from Matt Beca and Lemieux over the final eight and a half minutes to send the game to the second intermission tied at three.

Beca got the Everblades back to within a goal at 11:30 with a good individual effort. Kyle Lawson started the play with a good pass out of the Everblades zone that Beca skated onto just inside the Toledo blue line. Beca then used his speed to get around the defense and lifted a shot up over the glove of Spratt for his 11th goal of the year.

Just minutes later the Everblades tied the game on Lemieux's second goal of the night at 14:02. The play began with Fischer keeping the puck alive at the left point, then skating around a defender before feeding a perfect pass to Lemieux at the bottom of the left circle. From there Lemieux tallied his 24th goal of the season with a nice one-time snap shot.

Toledo however regained control of the contest scoring twice in the first six minutes of the third period to open a lead they would not relinquish. The Walleye took the lead at 4-3 when Tyler Doig fired a shot low on the ice from the top of the right circle through traffic and under the pads of Owen.

The eventual game-winning goal was then notched by Toledo at 5:28 on Rodgers' second marker of the night and seventh of the season off an assist from Torquato.

Florida made one last come-back effort as Lemieux completed the hat-trick with his 25th goal of the season at 8:31 after lifting home a shot from the right side of the crease with the Everblades on the power play. The hat-trick was Lemieux's third of the season and the fifth of his career. It was also the second in a many night's for the Everblades and their seventh of the year. Alex Imbeault and Ross Carlson assisted on the tally that brought the Blades back to 5-4.

Unfortunately for the Everblades the Walleye made sure that was as close as Florida would get. With goaltender Bobby Goepfert now in net in relief of Owen Toledo opened a 6-4 lead on Hedden's second goal of the night at 13:12 after scooping up a rebound at the top of the crease and lifting it over a diving Goepfert.

Dave Phillips opened a three-goal cushion for the Walleye less than a minute later when his shot from the right boards clanked off the left post and into the net at 14:07. The final nail came at 18:28 when Torquato fired the puck into the empty Everblades net while Florida enjoyed their seventh power play of the game.

Owen took the loss in his professional debut allowing five goals on 26 shots, and Goepfert finished off the final 11:55 of the contest allowing two goals on seven shots. Spratt picked up the win to improve his record to 3-1-0 after stopping 31 of 35 shots.

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.comor calling 800-745-3000.

The Everblades return to action on Wednesday, February 2 when they host the Greenville Road Warriors at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Visit www.floridaeverblades.comand www.germainarena.comfor more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

Bud Light 3 Stars:

1 - Kyle Rodgers - TOL

2 - Francis Lemieux - FLA

3 - Mike Hedden - TOL

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