ECHL Florida Everblades

'Blades fall late in Columbia 4-3

Published on November 13, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


COLUMBIA, SC - The Florida Everblades (6-4-0) dropped the opening game of their four-game road trip thanks a late third period goal in the closing seconds of the regulation, falling 4-3 to the Columbia Inferno (5-5-1) on Tuesday night at the Carolina Coliseum in front of a crowd of 2,475. Inferno goaltender Jeff Jakaitis was a big difference stopping 40 shots en-route to the victory and a late goal in the closing seconds of regulation sunk the Everblades.

The Inferno came out strong and set the tone with a pair of goals by Patrick Wellar in the first nine minutes to open a 2-0 lead they carried into the locker room. The first Wellar goal came at 2:38 when his wrist shot beat Everblades net-minder Justin Peters inside the left post. Wellar's second tally came at 8:27 after his shot from the high slot was stopped by Peters, but the rebound went straight up in the air and bounced down across the goal line.

Each team tallied second period goal allowing Columbia to carry a 3-1 lead into the third period. The Inferno notched the first goal of the middle stanza when Peter Tsimikalis tallied a power play goal just 29 seconds into the frame when his shot from the bottom of the right circle beat a scrambling Peters for a 3-0 Columbia lead. The Everblades finally broke through on Jakaitis when Derek Damon converted a break away from center ice by dekeing Jakaitis to the ice, then chipped the puck under the cross bar at 14:11 to trim the lead to 3-1. Damon's fourth goal of the season was unassisted.

A wild third period saw the Everblades come all the way back to tie the game at three, only to see the Inferno win it late. Derek Damon completed his first career hat-trick with a pair of third period goals. His second of the night came at 9:42 after swinging behind the Columbia net and banking a high shot off Jakaitis' arm and into the net. J.D. Forrest and Mathieu Melanson assisted on the tally to cut the Inferno lead to one. Damon then picked up his third of the game at 17:24 when he tipped in a pass from Melanson. David Cornacchia collected the second assist on the tally that completed the Everblades comeback. The Inferno however erased the comeback by notching the eventual game-winning goal with 12.4 seconds remaining in regulation when Marc Cavosie tipped in a pass from Daniel Sparre.

Peters suffered the tough-luck loss allowing the four goals on 30 shots to see his record drop to 4-3-0. Jakaitis earned the win to improve his record to 2-3-1.

On the power play, the Everblades closed out night 1-for-6, while the Inferno finished 1-for-5.

Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Thursday, November 15 when they travel to Augusta to take on the Lynx at 7:05 p.m. from James Brown Arena. The Everblades return home to Germain Arena on Wednesday, November 21 to host the Pensacola Ice Pilots at 7:30 p.m. 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) Marc Cavosie - CBA

2) Peter Wellar - CBA

3) Jeff Jakaitis - CBA

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ECHL Stories from November 13, 2007


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