ECHL Florida Everblades

Everblades Snap Skid, Upend Toledo 4-2

November 17, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (8-7-0) ended their three-game losing skid after riding a pair of Mitch Fadden goals and a 35 save performance by Bobby Goepfert to a 4-2 victory over the Toledo Walleye (4-7-2) Wednesday night at Germain Arena in front of a crowd of 3,280.

The Everblades came out roaring in their first home game of the month scoring twice in the first five minutes of the game. Alex Imbeault opened the scoring just 57 seconds into the game with a power play goal. After taking a lead pass into the offensive zone Imbeault fired a wrist shot from the right circle that sailed past Walleye net-minder Scott Campbell. Matt Pistilli and Francis Lemieux assisted on Imbeault's team-leading 11th goal.

Less than four minutes later Fadden notched the first of his two goals on the night on a strong, aggressive move to the net through the right circle. After the puck was worked up out of the Everblades zone by Goepfert and Bobby Raymond, Fadden raced into the offensive zone on the right side, cutting to the front of the net before slipping the puck between the pads of Campbell for his seventh goal of the year at 4:41 to give Florida a 2-0 lead they would carry into the first intermission.

The second period is when the Blades saw Goepfert really begin to shine after he denied Toledo's Zach Torquato on a short-handed breakaway seven minutes into the period to preserve the 2-0 lead. The Walleye however would eventually find a way to get the puck past Goepfert when Adam Keefe jammed home the puck at the left post at 8:43 of the frame.

The Everblades however answered quickly back to regain their two goal lead at 10:33 on Pistilli's sixth goal of the season. The tally came after a good play at the left point by Lemieux to hold the puck into the offensive zone. Lemieux then fed the puck to Drew Larman who cut to the net from the left side where he let a shot go that was blocked away by Campbell. Pistilli, following the play, chopped the puck from a tight angle past the Walleye goaltender to give the Blades a 3-1 lead.

The third period opened with Toledo buzzing the offensive zone en-route to out-shooting the Everblades 16-6 in the final period, but early on couldn't find a way to get the puck past Goepfert despite racking up eight shots in the first six minutes of the period. The Everblades, who were held to just one shot in that same span sent a dagger through the Walleye when Fadden notched his second goal of the night at 6:51 with a hard slap shot from the top of the left circle. The goal was made possible by Mike McKenzie who forced a turnover in the neutral zone before leading a pass ahead to Fadden, who has now scored point in 11 of the last 12 games.

The Walleye did cut the Everblades lead back in half at 14:49 on a nice passing play as their fifth power play of the night was coming to an end. Sal Peralta capped off a play that began at the blueline where Sebastien Piche and Tyler Gotto worked the puck to the left side of the crease where Peralta lifted home his first goal of the season.

In goal Goepfert improved to 5-4-0 with the win and Campbell saw his record drop to 3-3-2 after allowing four goals on 24 shots.

The win improved the Everblades to 5-1-0 at home this season, while Toledo fell to 2-2-1 on the road.

On the power play, the Everblades finished the night 1-of-4, while Toledo closed out the game 0-of-5.

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.com or calling 800-745-3000.

The Everblades return to action on Friday, November 19 when they host the Toledo Walleye at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

Bud Light 3 Stars:

1 - Bobby Goepfert - FLA

2 - Mitch Fadden - FLA

3 - Matt Pistilli - FLA

Check out the Florida Everblades Statistics



ECHL Stories from November 17, 2010


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