Pride drop fifth straight

February 1, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz News Release


DULUTH, GA – The Gwinnett Gladiators scored four unanswered goals to come back and defeat the Pee Dee Pride 4-3 on Tuesday night at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. The loss is the Pride's fifth consecutive defeat, setting a new team record for the longest losing streak. Pee Dee got off to a quick start, scoring a pair of first-period goals to take a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Eric Naud, activated off of the injured-reserve list earlier in the day, started the scoring at 8:26. Naud and Brian Collins skated across the Gwinnett blue line on a 2-on-1 rush. Naud used Collins as a decoy and his shot fooled Gladiators' goaltender Adam Berkhoel, going over his glove for Naud's third goal of the season. It was the first time in the last five games that the Pride have scored the game's first goal.

The Pride power-play then went to work for the other goal of the opening period. Great tic-tac-toe passing from Allan Sirois to Collins to Gregg Johnson finished off with the puck settling on Johnson's stick at the near post, and he blasted the puck into an empty net for his ninth tally of the season.

The Pride added to their lead at 8:49 of the second period, thanks to a little help from the Gladiators. Gwinnett tried to play the puck behind the net, but instead, the puck ended up inside the net, as Chad Spurr received credit for the goal as he was the last Pride player to touch the puck.

Gwinnett got on the scoreboard with a goal of its own at the 11:31 mark of the middle period. While shorthanded, Kris Goodjohn gathered in a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated in all alone on Nick Boucher. Goodjohn beat the Pride goaltender with a quick snap shot to make it 3-1 through 40 minutes.

The Gladiators pulled within one at 10:49 of the third period. Jim Jackson's blast from the center point beat Boucher for a power-play goal with just one second remaining on the man advantage opportunity.

Less than two minutes later, the Gladiators tied the game with another power-play tally. Chris Durno's shot from the right-wing circle went wide of the net, but the puck settled on the stick of Joe Bourne on the near post, and he was able to roof a shot over Boucher for his third goal of the season at 12:12.

Gwinnett took its first lead of the night with just 1:40 remaining in regulation. Chris Durno's shot from the left wing circle slid underneath Boucher's leg pad to make it 4-3 Gladiators.

Gwinnett outshot Pee Dee 15-5 in the third period, and 42-26 in the game.

The Pride return to action on Friday with a 7:00 face off at Cricket Arena against the Charlotte Checkers. All of the action can be heard on WDAR Sunny 105.5 and _www.peedeepride.com_ (http://www.peedeepride.com/) starting with the Palmetto Chiropractic Pre-Game Show at 6:40.

Pee Dee returns home from its eight-game road trip on Friday, February 11, hosting the Greenville Grrrowl at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for all remaining Pride home games are available at the Florence Civic Center Box Office, or through TicketMaster at (843) 679-9333 or _www.ticketmaster.com.



ECHL Stories from February 1, 2005


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