'Blades hold first place with 7-3 win over Columbia
March 24, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (40-20-6) exploded for five third period goals to break a 2-2 tie and sail away with a 7-2 win over the Columbia Inferno (25-31-9) on Saturday night at Germain Arena in front of a standing room only crowd of 7,516.
In a game where Reggie Berg tied Tom Buckley for the all-time Everblades mark for career points at 310, the 'Blades used their speed to help them remain in first place in the ECHL's South Division. Along with Berg's goal and assist, Florida collected two goals each from Ernie Hartlieb and Vince Bellissimo and 27 saves from goaltender Craig Kowalski in the winning effort.
An evenly matched first two periods was the teams each score a goal in the first and second periods. Columbia opened the scoring on Owen Fussey's 20th goal of the season 7:01 into the game. The Everblades responded with a beautiful end-to-end rush by Jon Lehun that resulted in him lifting the puck over the arm of Inferno goaltender Todd Ford at 12:50. Steve Czech and Ryan Brindley assisted on Lehun's 21st goal of the season.
In the second period the Everblades grabbed their first lead on Hartlieb's first of the night and sixth of the season just 1:06 into the frame. Jarret Lukin and Brett Peterson picked up the helpers on the tally. This time the Inferno answered back with a short-handed goal at 14:28 when Brendan Cook chipped a shot from the slot over the right arm of Kowalski and into the net.
With the teams even heading into the third, the Everblades exploded out of the gate scoring three times in the first seven and a half minutes to blow the game open. Dustin Johner started the barrage notching his 27th goal of the year just 36 second into the period on an assist by Czech. Bellissimo then tallied the first of his two goals at 4:44 with assists going to Brad Zancanaro and Berg, and Hartlieb collected his second of the game at 7:30 to open a 6-3 advantage. Lukin and Dan Baum picked up the helpers on Hartlieb's seventh of the season.
At 9:09 of the third period Berg tied Buckley for the Everblades all-time point mark with his 25th goal of the season by banging home a loose puck from the top of the Inferno crease. Bellissimo and Zancanaro helped out with the assists on the milestone goal.
The Inferno found the back of the net one last time with a power play goal by Fussey that he deflected past Kowalski at 10:01, but the Everblades sealed the win on Bellissimo's second goal of the night and 26th of the season at 15:24 with the assist going to Derek Damon.
In net Kowalski raised his record to 26-11-4, while Ford took the loss allowing the seven goals on 39 shots as his record fell to 14-11-6.
On the power play, the Everblades finished 1-for-6, while the Inferno closed out the game 1-for-4.
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