ECHL Florida Everblades

Blades road struggles continue, lose 6-3 at Gwinnett

February 22, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


DULUTH, GA - The Florida Everblades (35-16-3) finished off their four-game road trip on Sunday afternoon in Gwinnett where the Gladiators came out with a 6-3 win in front of a crowd of 4,785. The win was only the third by Gwinnett over the Everblades this season in 11 tries and unfortunately extended Florida's road skid to 0-6-1 in their last seven away from Germain Arena.

With both teams coming off late travel the night before each caught the other off guard quickly in the opening period as both scored in the opening minute of play.

It was the Gladiators (23-23-6) that stuck first, scoring just 22 seconds into the game. Gwinnett worked the puck out of their end on the right side where Andy Brandt led a pass ahead for Myles Stoesz who raced onto the loose puck and wristed a shot from the slot over the right shoulder of Everblades goaltender Anton Khudobin.

The Everblades responded quickly however as former Gladiator Milan Gajic tied the score at 1:04 of the period with his second goal of the season. The play began with Doug O'Brien working the puck down low to Mark Lee, who after heading behind the Gwinnett net found Gajic camped out on the doorstep where he jammed the puck past Gladiator net-minder Dan Turple.

The game remained tied at one until late in the frame when Gwinnett converted on a 4-on-3 power play. Dirk Southern tallied his eighth goal of the season by stepping out from the bottom of the left circle and lifting a shot over Khudobin's left shoulder at 14:29.

The Gladiators again jumped on the Everblades early in the second period scoring twice in the first five minutes of the frame. Andy Brandt gave the Gladiators a 3-1 lead just 56 seconds into the period with his fifth goal of the season after his wrist shot from the slot sailed past Khudobin.

At 4:11 Gwinnett extended their lead to 4-1 after Dan Sullivan was able to grab a loose puck at the bottom of the right circle before firing a pass to the front of the net where Adam Berti was able to one-time the pass by Khudobin for his eighth goal of the season.

Gwinnett added an insurance goal midway through the third period when Jordan Fox deflected Brennan Turner's shot from the left point past Khudobin at 9:44 to open a 5-1 advantage.

Although late in the game, the Everblades answered with a pair of goals separated by a minute in the final two minutes of regulation to trim the lead to 5-3. The first of the tallies came on the power play when Danick Bouchard collected a rebound at the left post off a shot from the point by Lee for his 18th goal of the season at 18:04.

Exactly a minute later the Everblades grabbed a bizarre goal to notch their third goal. A Florida dump-in on the left wing side kicked off the corner boards and bounced into the left circle where a shot was thrown to the net by Ryan McGinnis. Turple, who had vacated the net on the dump-in was scrambling back into position and knocked the puck away, but Patrick Bordeleau threw an tight angle shot on net that McGinnis deflected in at 19:04.

Back within two goals the Everblades pulled Khudobin for an extra attacker on their next rush into the zone but the Gladiators were able to keep Florida from climbing back to within one and sealed the game with an empty net goal by Brandt with 4.4 seconds remaining.

Khudobin suffered his second straight loss after allowing five goals on 36 shots which dropped his record to 18-10-1 while Turple collected his first win to go with three ties by turning away 37 of 40 shots.

On the power play, the Everblades finished the night 1-of-5, while Gladiators closed out the game 1-of-4.

BEWARE OF THE BITE! Action You Can Sink Your Teeth Into! Individual tickets to all Everblades home games are on sale now! Visit the Germain Arena Box Office M-F from 10-6 to purchase tickets, or order online at www.ticketmaster.com. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com or call 239-948-PUCK for more information on group ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

The Everblades return to action on Wednesday, February 25 when they host the Johnstown Chiefs at 7:30 p.m.

3 Stars:

1 - Andy Brandt - GWI

2 - Dan Turple - GWI

3 - Myles Stoesz - GWI

Check out the Florida Everblades Statistics



ECHL Stories from February 22, 2009


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