'Blades fall 4-3 in shootout to South Carolina
February 24, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
CHARLESTON, SC - The Florida Everblades (31-20-5) picked up a tie in the standings after suffering a 4-3 shootout loss to the South Carolina Stingrays (34-18-3) on Sunday night at the North Charleston Coliseum in front of a crowd of 4,592.
After a scoreless first period that saw the Everblades outshoot the Stingrays 9-4, the teams engaged in a wild second period with both clubs scoring three times in the middle frame. In a tale of two different periods, the Everblades scored the first three goals and the Stingrays followed that up with the last three goals of the period.
The Everblades opened the scoring by tallying a team-record fastest goal just 11 seconds into the frame when Kirk MacDonald broke in free down the middle after taking a pass from Preston Callander. MacDonald put a quick move on Stingrays goaltender Davis Parley before slipping a back-hand shot into the net. The Everblades previous record for the quickest goal at the start of a period came earlier this season on Novermber 30 vs. Alaska when the Blades scored 12 seconds into the first period.
Ernie Hartlieb gave the Everblades a 2-0 lead at 4:16 by collecting a power play goal. Callander and Mathieu Melanson worked the puck back and forth behind the Stingray net before Callander fed a pass out to Hartlieb in the slot where he fired home his 18th goal of the season. Shortly after Hartlieb made it a two-goal lead, Kirk MacDonald extended the lead to 3-0 with a short-handed marker at 7:18. The goal was the 8th short-handed tally by the Everblades this season and was assisted by David Cornacchia and Brad Herauf.
With the game seeming to be going smoothly in Florida's direction, the Stingrays got the momentum back in their favor on a pair of goals by Steve Pinizzotto. His first came on a slap shot from the left circle that snuck past Everblades net-minder Kevin Nastiuk at 11:35. Pinizzotto then notched his second of the game at 13:40 to trim the Everblades lead to one.
South Carolina completed their comeback late in the second period when Grant McNeill scored his third goal of the season with a shot from the left circle with just 13 seconds remaining in the frame, sending the teams to the second intermission tied 3-3.
Neither team could break the tie in the third period, sending the contest to overtime. For the second straight game, the Everblades needed at least the extra period to finish the game off. Neither team scored in the overtime either, forcing the contest to a shootout. In the shootout the Everblades picked up a goal from Hartlieb in the second round, but goals in the first and fourth rounds by South Carolina's Rory Rawlyk and Pierre-Luc O'Brien was the difference.
In net, Nastiuk got credit for a tie after stopping 24 shots in regulation and overtime to see his record got to 2-2-1. Parley collected the win by making 27 saves, improving his record to 15-7-2.
On the power play, the Everblades closed out night 1-for-6, while the Stingrays finished 0-for-3.
Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Friday, February 29 when they travel to Pensacola to take on the Ice Pilots at 8:05 p.m. from the Pensacola Civic Center. The Everblades next home game is on Friday, March 7 when they host the Mississippi Sea Wolves at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. 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.
Three Stars:
1) Steve Pinizzotto - SC
2) Pierre-Luc O'Brien - SC
3) Grant McNeill - SC
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