Nastiuk blanks Ice Pilots 3-0; Blades clinch playoff spot
Published on March 2, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
PENSACOLA, FL - The Florida Everblades (32-20-7) clinched a spot in the South Division playoffs as goaltender Kevin Nastiuk earned his first shutout of the season in a 3-0 win over the Pensacola Ice Pilots (16-34-7) on Sunday night at the Pensacola Civic Center in front of a crowd of 2,087. The win also allowed Florida to finish their season-high seven-game road trip with a 3-1-3 record.
The teams combined to play a physical first period, but thanks to the Everblades penalty killers who killed off nearly two minutes of 5-on-3 power play time late in the frame, the game was scoreless entering the first intermission with both clubs firing nine shots on goal.
The second period featured more of the same tight-checking style of play and the goaltenders continued to be to story of the game at the contest remained scoreless until the late stages of the frame. The first goal of the night came for the Everblades at 15:28 when Preston Callander one-timed a pass from Derek Damon past Pensacola goaltender Cam Ellsworth just after a power play expired. Ernie Hartlieb reached another milestone on the goal by assisting on Callander's 14th goal of the year. The assist was Hartlieb's 200th in his pro career and comes one night after reaching the 300 point mark in his career and two nights after scoring his 100th career goal.
After going scoreless in the third period over the past six games, the Everblades made sure the Ice Pilots didn't engineer a comeback on this night by scoring twice in the period. The first of the two goals came on the power play when Hartlieb, who was camped out at the top of the Pensacola goal crease, deflected a shot from Brandon Roach past Ellsworth at 4:38. Kirk MacDonald also assisted on the Hartlieb's 21st goal of the year.
The goaltenders took care of the rest in the period with Ellsworth turning away 17 shots in the second period and Everblades net-minder Kevin Nastiuk turning away all eight shots he faced.
The Everblades then put the score out of reach with 7:45 remaining in regulation when Brad Zancanaro, who has just finished serving a penalty, came out of the box and took a perfect pass from Brad Herauf and raced by defenseman J.R. Bria down the right boards. Zancanaro then cut to the front of the net before chipping a shot over the glove of Ellsworth for his ninth goal of the season.
Nastiuk and the penalty killers again stood tough over the remainder of the period shutting down three Pensacola power play chances in the period as Nastiuk turned away all eight shots he faced.
In all Nastiuk stopped 25 shots to improve to 3-2-2 and Ellsworth fell to 11-23-2 after allowing the three goals on 34 shots.
On the power play, the Everblades closed out night 1-for-6, while the Ice Pilots finished 0-for-7.
Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Friday, March 7 when they host the Mississippi Sea Wolves at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Individual tickets to all Everblades home games are on sale now! Stop by the Germain Arena box office to reserve your seat for all the exciting action! Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.
Three Stars:
1) Kevin Nastiuk - FLA
2) Ernie Hartlieb - FLA
3) Mathieu Roy - PEN
ECHL Stories from March 2, 2008
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