ECHL Florida Everblades

Everblades surge past Gladiators with four-goal third period

Published on February 19, 2011 under ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


WITH FOUR GOAL THIRD PERIOD

ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (30-24-3) finished off a weekend sweep over their South Division rival Gwinnett Gladiators (22-24-7) thanks to a four goal third period that pushed them to a 7-3 victory on Saturday night at Germain Arena.

With the game tied 3-3 entering the final 20 minutes of play the Everblades jumped on the Gladiators for three goals in the first nine minutes of the frame. The ECHL's leading scorer Francis Lemieux broke the stalemate to record the eventual game-winning goal at 4:08 of the period with a wrist shot from the slot after his pass attempt to Alex Imbeault was blocked right back to him. Matt Beca picked up the primary assist and J.F. David recorded the other helper on Lemieux's 28th goal of the season.

From there the Everblades took control of the game opening a 5-3 lead at the 5:55 mark when Imbeault tallied the first of his two goals with a power play marker when his wrist shot from the high slot deflected past Gwinnett goalie Chris Carrozzi.

Adding the insurance goals in the period were Tony Mosey, who collected his third goal of the season with a nice one-time shot from the left circle at 8:33 to complete a 2-on-1 rush with Ian McDonald, and Imbeault who tallied his league leading 31st goal of the year with a shot from the right circle that deflected off the glove of Carrozzi and dropped into the net at 14:24.

Prior to the final period, the scoring went back-and-forth between the teams for the first two periods. Gwinnett opened the scoring at the 13:08 mark of the first period on Dustin Cameron's fifth goal of the season when he fired a shot from the right side of the crease past Everblades net-minder Jaroslav Janus.

The Everblades answered that goal at 14:22 of the first period on a strong move by Drew Larman from the left boards to the front of the net where he slipped the puck between the pads of Carrozzi. Evgeny Timkin picked up the assist on the tally.

Before the period closed out the Gladiators grabbed the lead back when Danick Paquette collected a rebound off the pads of Janus at the top of the crease and wristed home his 10th goal of the year at 17:06.

Entering the second period down by goal the Everblades didn't take long to draw even. Just over three minutes into the period Beca notched his 14th goal of the season with a hard one-timer from the left circle. The goal was set up on a good passing play that saw Imbeault lead Lemieux into the zone where from the top of the right circle whipped a pass across to Beca waiting in the left circle.

Gwinnett however again grabbed the lead, this time at 14:27 of the middle period when Cody Brookwell found himself alone in the right circle after taking a pass from Jason-Scott Dickson. Brookwell got away a quick shot that beat Janus low on the glove side to give the Gladiators a 3-2 lead.

The Everblades however responded with a big goal late in the period when Mathieu Roy tallied a power play goal with 40 seconds remaining in the frame. Off a face-off win in the right circle by McDonald, Bobby Raymond fired a shot from the blue line that missed over top of the net. The puck ricocheted off the end glass to Roy at the left post where he slipped the puck home for this 11th goal of the year.

The win improved the Everblades record to 6-3-0 vs. Gwinnett on the season and to 5-1-0 at home vs. the Gladiators.

In goal Janus improved to 11-12-0 after stopping 48 of 51 shots, while Carrozzi fell to 12-13-5 after allowing the seven goals on 43 shots.

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 Saturday, February 26 when they travel to South Carolina to take on the Stingrays at 7:05 p.m. from the North Charleston Coliseum. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

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ECHL Stories from February 19, 2011


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