Florida's Third-Period Comeback Finishes Devils, 4-3

Published on December 31, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Trenton Devils News Release


Trenton, NJ - After the Devils surged in front of Florida with two goals late in the second period, the Everblades' league-leading offense exploded for three goals within a 6:04 span early the third period to give Florida a 4-3 victory over Trenton at Sun National Bank Center. The Devils' record now stands at 12-14-0-2 as they fail to return to the .500 mark before the New Year, while Florida now has the second most points in the Eastern Conference, improving to 21-13-0-1.

After the teams traded chances in a scoreless first period, Matt Beca scored 8:13 into the second period to open the scoring and give Florida a 1-0 lead. But instead of Florida drawing momentum after striking for the game's first tally, it was Trenton who controlled the play after Beca's goal, scoring twice in the final 6:43 of the middle stanza to take its first lead of the game. The Devils first marker was scored by Matt Lombardi, who recorded his eight goal of the season by deflecting a shot from Taylor Vichorek past Florida goaltender Bobby Goepfert at 13:17. Lombardi's score was assisted by Vichorek and Kory Nagy, who both now have assists in two straight games. Trenton's go-ahead score was put past Goepfert by Jeff Prough, whose 10th goal of the season came by firing a one-time shot from the right hash mark off a set up by Dan Charleston and Kyle Kucharski.

After the Devils seemed to have gained control of the game by dominating the latter stages of the second period, the Florida line of Matt Beca, Mike McKenzie and Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll went to work, combining to score twice in 25 seconds in what proved to be the turning point of the game. All three forwards earned points on both the game-tying and go-ahead goals, with Lalonde-McNicoll scoring his third goal in the last two games to pull the Everblades even, and Mike McKenzie notching his sixth goal in the last six games to put Florida ahead.

The ECHL's two leading scorers, Mitch Fadden and Francis Lemieux, combined on a nifty passing play 5:39 later to put Florida ahead, 4-2, with Lemieux burying his 14th goal after receiving a pass from Fadden at the right circle. The Devils propelled 11 third-period shots at Goepfert in an attempt to come back and finish 2010 on a good note, but were severely hampered by two penalties from Dan Charleston and Jeremy Akeson 22 seconds apart in the game's final four minutes. Although Trenton prevented Florida from scoring during its lengthy five-on-three, the Devils missed out on valuable attack time by being forced to kill the penalty.

With Dave Caruso pulled for an extra attacker after the penalties expired, Justin Pender scored for the first time since opening night to make the score 4-3 with 26 seconds left in the final frame. Pender's goal proved to be too little, too late, as Trenton was unable to generate any more offense in the game's final two dozen seconds.

Having lost two of the first three games against Florida this season, the Devils have a chance to earn a split in the season series tomorrow night when they take on the Everblades for the final time this season. Puck drop at Sun National Bank Center is set for 7:00 p.m.

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