ECHL Florida Everblades

Blades Ride Big Second Period to 5-1 Win Over Stingrays

Published on January 14, 2011 under ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


N. CHARLESTON, SC - The Florida Everblades (22-18-2) snapped their six-game winless streak with a solid 5-1 win over the South Carolina Stingrays (21-15-2) on Friday night at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Everblades rode a four-goal second period and 31 saves by goaltender Bobby Goepfert to their first win of 2011.

Just as they did the previous two games of their road trip, the Everblades opened the scoring, seeing the return of forward Matt Beca to the line-up pay off. Midway through the period defenseman David Fischer worked the puck down low where Mike McKenzie forced it loose to Beca below the goal line. From there Beca jammed the puck to the left post where he was finally able to force it past Stingrays net-minder Todd Ford at 11:43.

South Carolina however answered back late in the frame at 16:50 when Pierre-Luc O'Brien's shot from the high slot deflected off traffic in front of Everblades goalie Bobby Goepfert and into the net. Jordan Pietrus and Josh Godfrey picked up the helpers on O'Brien's 10th goal of the season.

The Everblades exploded in the second period for four goals, two on the power play to open a 5-1 lead entering the second intermission. The goal-scoring blitz began at 3:16 on Florida's first power play marker. Mike Egener began the play at the right point where his initial shot was blocked, but got the puck back before feeding a pass to Francis Lemieux at the bottom of the right circle. Lemieux then threw the puck to the front of the net where he deflected off Mathieu Roy's skate and into the net for his eighth goal.

Exactly one minute later the Everblades opened a 3-1 lead on a nice deflection at the front of the net by Drew Larman. The goal, which was Larman's first of the year began with Tony Mosey working the puck out to the left point for Egener. From there the Everblade captain threw a shot on net that Larman got a piece of.

The Everblades extended their lead to 4-1 with their second power play goal at 12:26. Once again Egener played a part in the goal as his shot from the blue line found its way through traffic and past Ford. Hard work at the front of the net by Beca and Ross Carlson allowed the puck to make it back to Egener at the line where he let the shot fly.

The scoring finished off with rookie Tony Mosey tallying his first professional goal at 15:23. The Stingrays had the Everblades hemmed into their own end and under pressure when Mosey blocked a shot from the blue line and raced ahead on a breakaway. Although Ford stopped the initial shot, Mosey stuck with it and slipped the rebound into the net for a 5-1 lead.

South Carolina opened the third period with a goaltender change as Jared DeMichiel came on to replace Ford. The Stingrays didn't help their cause in a come-back effort as they spent nearly half the final period short-handed and the Everblades maintained their four-goal lead.

In the end, the Everblades closed out the night 2-of-9 on the power play while shutting down the Stingrays in all four of their power play chances.

In goal Goepfert picked up his 14th win of the season with a solid effort while Ford suffered the loss for South Carolina allowing the five goals on 21 shots over the first two periods. DeMichiel closed out the game by stopping all five shots he faced in the third period.

The win improved the Everblades to 3-2-1 vs. South Carolina this season.

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.

The Everblades return to action on Saturday, January 15 when they travel to Gwinnett to take on the Gladiators at 7:05 p.m. from the Arena at Gwinnett Center. The Everblades' next home game is Wednesday, January 19 when they host the Reading Royals at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Visit www.floridaeverblades.comand www.germainarena.comfor more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

Bud Light 3 Stars:

1 - Mike Egener - FLA

2 - Matt Beca - FLA

3 - Bobby Goepfert - FLA

Check out the Florida Everblades Statistics

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ECHL Stories from January 14, 2011


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