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ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators' Comeback Falls Short in Overtime

January 18, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


KALAMAZOO, MI - Trailing 4-1 in the later portion of the second period, the Gwinnett Gladiators rallied to force overtime Saturday night at Wings Stadium. However former Gladiator defenseman Sam Ftorek put a slapper past Brad Phillips on the power play in overtime to seal a 5-4 K-Wings win.

The comeback started late in the second. Gwinnett (15-22-1-2) rallied for two quick goals to cap the period. Casey Pierro-Zabotel hammered home a rebound on the power play at 17:41 for his first goal of the season. Kwiet and Southern had the helpers, and the Gladiators weren't done.

Just 29 seconds later, Brenden Walker took a feed from Sacha Guimond down the left wing side, and put a nasty move on Wings (20-14-1-2) goalie Jordan Binnington down low to fool the netminder and pull the Gladiators within one heading into the third.

Joey Haddad then tied the game within the first two minutes of the period, as his wrister from the near circle foiled Binnington with Antoine Corbin and Evan Bloodoff assisting.

However, Kalamazoo claimed the win inside the final minute of overtime on the man advantage as Ftorek beat Phillips for a 5-4 final.

The Gladiators are next in action Monday at 12:30 p.m. at home against the Wheeling Nailers.

Kalamazoo forward Matt Caria scored the first two goals of the game at 2:00, and 9:55 of the first, but Gwinnett came back to cut the deficit in half.

Jonathan Narbonne set up a Rob Kwiet one-timer from the top of the near circle, and the defenseman blasted the shot past Binnington to make it a 2-1 game into the second.

Kalamazoo then picked up the first two goals of the second period to build a 4-1 edge, with Ryan Del Monte (11:15) and Justin Taylor (14:54, SH) finding the back of the net. The fourth goal chased Gwinnett starter Paul Karpowich from the game.

The Gladiators are members of the ECHL, the nation's premier "AA" hockey league and are affiliated with the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL. All home games are played at the 11,355-seat Arena at Gwinnett Center, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.

For all the latest team news, contests, and more visit GwinnettGladiators.com, or "like" the Gladiators on Facebook (Facebook.com/GwinnettGladiators), and follow the team on Twitter (Twitter.com/GWTGladiators).

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