ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Power Past Everblades 6-3

Published on February 14, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


Gwinnett cashed in on three of their five power play chances, and Dan Sullivan finished with two goals and two assists, as the Gladiators overpowered the Florida Everblades 6-3 in front of 5,083 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center in the third and final game on pink ice on Sunday afternoon. The Everblades twice erased one-goal leads for the Gladiators in the first two periods, but Gwinnett potted four of the final five goals of the contest, as they claimed a second straight South Division victory and two more vital points in the rapidly tightening conference standings.

The Gladiators lit up the scoreboard early for the second straight night. Tim Miller scored his third goal in three nights just 48 seconds into the game, as he stepped out from behind the net and fired a shot on Florida goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu, which was mostly blocked but trickled between his legs and across the goal line for a 1-0 Gladiators lead.

Florida's Kevin Baker tied the game at one on a slap shot from the right circle at 8:44. Baker took a pass from Ryan Lang and made a rush up the right wing boards, and his shot beat Gwinnett goaltender David Brown low on the blocker side.

The Gladiators went up 2-1 at 4:48 of the second period on Mike McLean's second tally as a Gladiator, but again Florida pulled even with a deflection goal by Shea Guthrie at 13:49.

But Chad Denny restored the Gladiators' lead with his eighth goal of the season at 15:23 on a hard wrist shot from the left faceoff circle, and Dan Sullivan scored what proved to be the game-winner with less than two minutes to go in the period with a power play marker on a rebound put-back after Scott Mifsud's shot from the right corner for the 4-2 lead.

But the tides turned when Sullivan was assessed a tripping penalty at 18:49 and Kevin Baker deflected a shot from the blue line past Brown to cut the Gladiators' lead back down to one, making the score 4-3 heading into the second intermission.

Drew Paris gave the Gladiators their second two-goal lead of the game at 12:29 of the third period with their second power play marker of the contest. Paris took a cross-ice pass from defensive partner Sam Roberts and beat a screened Beckford-Tseu with a shot from the point.

Dan Sullivan then recorded his second goal of the game, another Gladiators power play tally, at 16:41 on a deflection from Sam Roberts to go up 6-3 and cap the scoring for the game.

David Brown made 29 saves for his second win in as many nights, coming up with numerous acrobatic saves, while Florida's Chris Beckford-Tseu made 22 saves in his fourth loss in his last five starts.

Dan Sullivan finished with four points to lead all skaters, tying a Gladiators season high for points in a game, while Paris, Roberts, McLean, Miller, and Scott Mifsud registered two points each. Kevin Baker had two goals and Ernie Hartlieb had two assists to lead Florida's skaters.

Gwinnett finished 3-for-5 on the power play, and Florida capitalized on one of their three man-advantages.

Gwinnett improves to 25-21-3-2 on the season and.500 on home ice, as they enter a grueling portion of their schedule in which they play 10 of their next 12 contests on the road. Florida drops to 26-19-3-5 on the season.

The Gladiators next play on Friday, February 21st, at South Carolina and look to continue their push at the Kelly Cup playoffs.




ECHL Stories from February 14, 2010


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