Blades Fight From Behind, Win 3-2 Over Sea Wolves
March 7, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (33-20-7) pushed their home winning streak to six after a thrilling third period come from behind 3-2 victory over the Mississippi Sea Wolves (24-44-3) on Friday night at Germain Arena. The win moved the Everblades into a third place tie in the South Division and improved Florida's record to 5-2-0 vs. Mississippi this season.
The Everblades trailed the game 2-1 entering the third period before engineering a two-goal frame to earn just their second win this season when trailing after two periods. Ernie Hartlieb's 22nd goal of the season with 3:17 remaining in regulation snapped a 2-2 tie and sent the crowd of 6,637 into a frenzy. The power play marker came after Preston Callander and Derek Damon worked the puck along right boards before Damon slipped a pass cross-ice to Hartlieb in the left circle where he rifled home the game-winning marker.
Just minutes prior to Hartlieb's goal, the Everblades tied the score after Jarret Lukin chipped the puck free from a goal mouth scramble and over top fallen Mississippi goaltender Ryan Munce. The tally at 10:58 of the third came after Munce kicked aside Steve Czech's shot from the blue line. Munce then stopped J.B. Bittner's attempt at the left post on the follow, but the puck squirted free to the top of the crease where Lukin cashed in on his eighth goal of the year.
Prior to the third period, all the scoring took place in the first. Despite the Everblades carrying the majority of the play in the opening 20 minutes, it was the Sea Wolves that found themselves leading by two goals 14 minutes into the contest. Mississippi opened the scoring at 11:02 when Zbynek Hrdel completed a 3-on-2 rush by wristing a shot from the top of the right circle past Everblades net-minder David Shantz and into the upper left corner of the net.
The Sea Wolves then grabbed a 2-0 lead at 14:05 when Chris Trull notched his fifth goal of the season by gaining the zone and snapping off a quick shot from the top of the left circle that found the upper right corner of the net.
One turning point of the game came with 4:14 remaining in the first period and the Everblades on the power play. Mississippi's Torry Gajda broke in on Shantz short-handed but was hooked from behind, giving the Sea Wolves a penalty shot. On the free shot for Gajda, Shantz turned his back-hand attempt away keeping the score 2-0.
Just over a minute later while still working the power play, Damon registered his 21st goal of the year by one-timing a pass from Brandon Roach from the right circle past Munce to cut the Mississippi lead in half at 16:47. Callander also assisted on Damon's 11th power play marker of the season.
The Sea Wolves had a good chance to tie the game late in the third period when a delay of game penalty on Shantz gave Mississippi a 5-on-3 power play with 2:30 left in regulation. Shantz came up big however making several stops to keep the Sea Wolves from equalizing the score.
Shantz improved to 5-0-1 in his last six start and to 8-3-2 overall after stopping 24 of 26 shots and Munce fell to 17-13-0 after allowing the three goals on 32 shots.
On the power play, the Everblades closed out night 2-for-6, while the Sea Wolves finished 0-for-5.
Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Saturday, March 8 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) Ernie Hartlieb - FLA
2) Jarret Lukin - FLA
3) J.B. Bittner - PEN
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