Blades Gain Point in Standings, But Fall 3-2 in Shootout
December 19, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC - The Florida Everblades (17-12-1) picked up a tie, and thus a point in the standings on Sunday afternoon, but saw the South Carolina Stingrays (14-13-1) come from behind and pick up a 3-2 shootout out victory at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The Everblades came out strong to open the game, carrying the play in the opening 20 minutes. Their hard work in the offensive zone was eventually rewarded at 14:56 when Mike McKenzie tallied his ninth goal of the season. The goal was set up by a nice pass from Cedric McNicoll who fired a good hard pass out of the right corner to McKenzie in the slot where he snapped home the game's first goal. Bobby Raymond also collected as assist on the marker.
The second period saw the Everblades pick up where they left off in the first period applying relentless pressure on the Stingrays, outshooting them 10-0 at one point midway through the frame, but couldn't find a way to get another puck past Ford.
The Stingrays meanwhile took advantage of a failed dump-in by the Everblades that was tied up at the blueline after hitting off the linesman's skate. That allowed Pierre-Luc O'Brien to chip the puck to the neutral zone where Trent Campbell skated in freely on a short-handed breakaway before lifting a back-hand shot over the glove of Everblades goaltender Bobby Goepfert at 12:17.
The short-handed tally was the fourth by the Stingrays this season and their third against Florida, while for the Everblades it was the 11th short-handed marker allowed this season.
The third period got off to a good start for the Everblades with Francis Lemieux scoring on the power play just 48 seconds into the period. Mitch Fadden won the left circle faceoff back to Ethan Graham, who then fed David Fischer with a pass at the middle of the ice on the blue line. After delaying for just a moment Fischer let a shot fly that was deflected past Stingrays net-minder Todd Ford.
South Carolina however once again found a way to battle back to tie the score when David de Kastrozza notched his ninth goal of the season when his shot from the left boards tipped off Goepfert's glove and dropped in across the goal line at 10:54.
With neither team scoring in the remaining nine minutes, the game moved to overtime where despite chances for both clubs, neither could score the game-winner. In the shootout, the Stingrays used goals by Rob Ricci and Tommy Goebel in the second and third rounds, while the Everblades failed to score on any of their four opportunities.
In goal Goepfert earned a tie and saw his record go to 10-6-1 after stopping 21 shots in regulation and overtime. Ford picked up the win to improve to 7-4-0 after making 32 saves in regulation and overtime.
On the power play, the Everblades finished the game 1-of-4 while South Carolina closed out the night 0-of-4.
Individual tickets to all 2010-11 Florida Everblades home games are on sale now! Tickets are available at the TIB Bank Box Office Monday - Friday from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. - 2 p.m. Fans can also purchase tickets through TicketMaster by logging onto www.ticketmaster.comor calling 800-745-3000. Visit www.floridaeverblades.comand www.germainarena.comfor more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.
Bud Light 3 Stars:
1 - Todd Ford - SC
2 - Trent Campbell - SC
3 - David de Kastrozza - SC
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