'Blades end home stand with 7-4 loss to Gwinnett
February 14, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (29-15-2) saw Adam Taylor pick up a hat-trick, but couldn't find a way to beat Gwinnett (29-14-6) as the Gladiators outlasted the Everblades 7-4 on Wednesday night at Germain Arena in front of a crowd of 5,536.
The Gladiators opened the game strong, scoring the first three goals of the contest in the first 15 minutes. Mike Vigilante tallied the game's first goal notching his 18th goal of the season just 5:04 into the period. Colten Fretter tallied his team-leading 35th goal of the season on the power play at 12:36 to open a 2-0 Gwinnett lead. The Gladiators increased their lead to three at 15:08 when Andy Contois tallied the first of his two goals by wristing a shot past Everblades goaltender Craig Kowalski from the left circle.
The Everblades managed to get one goal back before the opening 20 minutes concluded. Taylor notched the first of his three at 17:31 of the frame with Vince Bellissimo and Brad Parsons picking up the assists on Taylor's eight goal of the season.
Midway through the second period Taylor stuck again, this time deflecting a point shot from Chris Dyment past Gwinnett net minder Dave Caruso at 10:59 to trim the Gladiator lead to 3-2. Gwinnett however responded with a late goal as Jim Jackson's shot from the right point snuck in under the cross bar with 51 seconds remaining in the middle period.
Entering the third period, the two teams combined to score three goals in the first four minutes. The 'Blades scored first in the frame when Taylor completed the hat-trick by converting a power play goal at 2:18. Taylor's 10th goal of the season came on assists by Bellissimo and Ryan Van Buskirk. Gwinnett responded quickly when Contois notched his second goal of the game at 3:37, but Parsons returned fire just 16 seconds later for his 5th goal of the year. Bellissimo and Ryan Brindley assisted.
The game remained 5-4 until the closing moments, and despite dominating the third period the Everblades couldn't find the equalizer. Gwinnett closed out the game with a pair of goals in the final two minutes. Blue Bennefield tallied his 10th goal of the season on the power play with 1:09 remaining and Jamie Milam sealed the game with an empty net goal with 22 seconds left in regulation.
In goal, Kowalski saw his record fall to 16-8-1 by allowing six goals on 27 shots, while Caruso improved his record to 15-6-3 by stopping 26 of 30 shots.
On the power play, the Everblades closed out the night 1-for-7, while the Gladiators finished the game 2-for-6.
The Florida Everblades, proud affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers, return to the ice on Friday, February 16 when they travel to Augusta to take on the Lynx at 7:35 p.m. from James Brown Arena. Florida Everblades full season tickets & mini-plans are now available! Reserve your seat for all the exciting action today by calling (239) 948-7825. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on group ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.
3 Stars:
1 - Andy Contois - GWI
2 - Adam Taylor - FLA
3 - Mike Vigilante - GWI
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