Blades Engineer 3-2 Come-From-Behind Win Over K-Wings
Published on October 27, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (3-3-0) climbed back to the .500 mark with a strong 3-2 com-from-behind win, handing the Kalamazoo Wings (3-1-0) their first loss of the season on Wednesday night at Germain Arena in front of a crowd of 3,004.
The quick-paced game saw the teams scrap through to a scoreless first period as the goaltenders established themselves early with Everblades net-minder Bobby Goepfert making 10 first period saves and K-Wings goaltender Ryan Nie turning away all 13 shots he faced in the opening stanza. The big moment of opening 20 minutes saw the Everblades get a five-minute major power play, but not convert.
The second period saw Kalamazoo open the frame with a carry over power play but they too could not convert. So the game carried on scoreless until the K-Wings broke through first at 7:34 after Kory Karlander slipped a pass from behind the Everblades net to the bottom of the right circle where Jordan Fulton one-timed a quick shot past Goepfert.
The score remained 1-0 entering the third period when the teams exploded to score four goals. The Everblades jumped quickly on Nie and the Wings with a pair of goals by Alex Imbeault in the first four minutes.
Imbeault notched his first goal of the night and his seventh of the year at 1:52 after deflecting a shot on the doorstep off a right point shot from Ethan Graham to tie the game at one. Elgin Reid added an assist on the tally as well.
Less than two minutes later Imbeault gave the Everblades their first lead of the night at 3:35 with a nice back-hand shot from the bottom of the left circle that he lifted over the blocker of Nie and under the cross bar. Francis Lemieux and Graham picked up the helpers on Imbeault's eighth goal of the year.
Kalamazoo found a way to answer back after the puck was mishandled by Goepfert behind his net and saw the puck slide out to the left circle where Karlander picked it up and fired it past the scrambling goalie to even the score at two at 7:42.
The Everblades found the eventual game-winner at 13:20 of the third period when rookie Alex Hutchings notched his first professional goal on a quick wrist shot from the left circle after a Kalamazoo turnover in the neutral zone. On the turnover Lemieux and Matt Beca combined to bring the puck into the zone before dropping if off to Hutchings who was trailing the play.
The Everblades held off the Wings over the final six and half minutes, including the final couple minutes during which Kalamazoo had some time on the power play.
In goal Goepfert earned the win to improve to 2-1-0 after stopping 29 of 31 shots. Nie (3-1-1) suffered his first loss of the season allowing the three goals on 28 shots.
On the power play, the Everblades finished the night 1-of-5, while Kalamazoo closed out the game 0-of-5.
2010-11 Florida Everblades season ticket packages are available now! For just $66 you can get your piece of the action for next season! The Everblades return to action on Friday, October 29 when they host the Kalamazoo Wings at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.
Bud Light 3 Stars:
1 - Alex Imbeault - FLA
2 - Alex Hutchings - FLA
3 - Bobby Goepfert - FLA
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