ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Fall 5-4 to Texas in Shootout

Published on November 10, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


Ryan Mahrle's first goal of the season tied the game at four late in the third period but Gwinnett's comeback bid fell short in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Texas Wildcatters in front of 10,353 on Friday night at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. Dirk Southern extended his points scoring streak to nine games with an assist. Gwinnett falls to 8-1-1 on the season with the loss.

Texas took a 1-0 lead on the power play 5:20 into the contest. John McNabb was able to throw the puck off Gladiators netminder Craig Kowalski and have it roll into the net for the marker. Danick Bouchard and Brandon Benedict collected the assists on the goal for Texas.

Benedict then gave the Wildcatters a 2-0 lead with a 5-on-3 power play goal with 4:58 left in the first period. Picking up a rebound along the goal line, Benedict flicked the puck up over an outstretched Kowalski for the marker. Dan Welch and Maxim Noreau collected the assists on the power play goal for the Wildcatters.

Colton Fretter got the Gladiators on the board just 40 seconds into the second period. Corralling a bouncing puck off the dasher board, Fretter was able to slip behind the Texas net and stuff the puck past Wildcatters netminder Anton Khudobin for the unassisted goal.

Gwinnett tied the game at two on the power play at the 6:31 mark of the second period ripping a slapshot past Khudobin from the blue line. Dirk Southern and Mike Hamilton collected the assists on the power play goal for Gwinnett setting up Milam at the point. Southern's assist pushed his point scoring streak to nine consecutive games.

Texas regained the lead with a pair of goals less than three minutes apart later in the second period. McNabb posted his second goal of the game beating Kowalski for the marker on the power play. Benedict and Bouchard again had the assists on the goal for the Wildcatters.

Fulton pushed the Texas lead back to two goals at the 12:44 mark of the second period. Ross Carlson and John Adam had the assists on the marker for Texas.

Milam's second goal of the game on the power play with 1:39 remaining in the second period cut the Texas lead to one goal. Milam ripped a slapshot from left wing point past Khudobin for the goal. Mike Hamilton and Stuart MacRae collected the assists on the goal for Gwinnett.

Ryan Mahrle tied the game at four with his first goal of the season and pushed the contest to overtime. With time winding down, Lou Dickenson and Andy Brandt hooked up to set up Mahrle on the goal with 2:02 left in the third period. Mahrle walked thorough a gaggle of Texas defensemen in the slot and beat Khudobin for the marker.

With the contest knotted at four, Texas won the game in the shootout getting second and fourth round goals from McNabb and Welch respectively while Gwinnett's only score came in the second round from Derek Nesbitt. Khudobin made four of five saves while Kowalski made three of five saves.

Kowalski falls to 6-1-1 on the season with the loss as he finished with 26 saves in the contest. Gwinnett outshot the Wildcatters by a 63-31 margin in the shootout loss. The Gladiators finished 2-for-6 on the power play while giving up three power play goals to the Wildcatters on seven chances.

The Gladiators continue their fifth anniversary season on Friday, November 10th as they host the South Carolina Stingrays at the Arena at Gwinnett Center at 7:35 p.m. Catch all the play-by-play action in Friday's game via Accessnorthga.com audio stream channel 3.

Check out the Atlanta Gladiators Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from November 10, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central