ECHL Florida Everblades

'Blades roll to 7-2 win over Ice Pilots

March 9, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (37-17-4) used a pair of goals each from Derek Damon and Dustin Johner along with 36 saves from Craig Kowalski to roll to a 7-2 win over the Pensacola Ice Pilots (18-38-3) on Friday night at Germain Arena in front of a crowd of 6,945. It marked the second straight game the Everblades scored seven goals.

The Everblades came out flying, scoring on the game's first shift when Damon picked up an errant clearing pass by the Ice Pilots and rifled a shot into the upper right corner of the net just 18 seconds into the game. The unassisted goal was the second fastest scored by the 'Blades this season to start a game. Florida didn't stop there as Johner notched his first of the game and 24th of the season by depositing a rebound off Ice Pilot goaltender Michael Mole into the back of the net at 11:18 of the frame. Damon and Jon Lehun assisted on the tally.

The Everblades added a late first period tally to carry a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Vince Bellissimo notched his 22nd goal of the season on assists from Reggie Berg and Brad Zancanaro with 2:46 remaining in the period.

Zancanaro got into the fun giving the Everblades a 4-0 lead 5:56 into the second period when he was able to corral the puck at the left side of the Pensacola net and bang it inside the left post. Berg and Jarret Lukin picked up the assists on Zancanaro's 13th goal of the season.

Down by four, the Ice Pilots made a charge through the middle of the second period, by notching a pair of goals to trim the Everblade lead to two. Dan Sullivan collected his 14th goal of the season by deflecting a shot past Kowalski at 7:17 of the period to get Pensacola on the board. Less than two minutes later, the Ice Pilots added a short-handed goal by Nikita Korovkin at 9:12 when his shot was stopped by Kowlaski but was inadvertently swept into the net by Everblades forward Ernie Hartlieb.

The Everblades however, took over from there scoring the game's final three goals. Before the second period ended Brad Parsons regained the three-goal advantage for Florida with his 10th goal of the season at 14:58. Johner and Ryan Brindley added the assists.

In similar fashion to how the game began, the Everblades started the third period with a quick tally by Damon. This time it was Damon finding the back of the net from the left circle 41 seconds into the period to open a 6-2 lead. Lehun and Brindley, who finished the game an Everblades season-high plus-6, assisted on Damon's 16th goal of the year.

Johner closed out the scoring with his 25th goal of the season beating Mole inside the right post with a wrist shot from the slot. Lehun added his third assist in the game and Martin Tuma collected a helper as well.

Kowalski (24-10-3) helped the Everblades improve to 6-1-1 vs. Pensacola this season by stopping 36 of 38 shots, while Mole saw his record fall to 12-17-2 after allowing the seven goals on 38 shots.

On the power play, the Everblades closed out the night 0-for-3, while the Ice Pilots finished the game 0-for-2.

The Florida Everblades, proud affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers, return to the ice on Saturday, March 10 when they host the Pensacola Ice Pilots at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Florida Everblades full season tickets & mini-plans are now available! Reserve your seat for all the exciting action today by calling (239) 948-7825. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on group ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

3 Stars:

1 - Dustin Johner - FLA

2 - Derek Damon - FLA

3 - Craig Kowalski - FLA

Check out the Florida Everblades Statistics



ECHL Stories from March 9, 2007


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