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Swept In The South: Devils Stung By Gladiators, 4-2

March 21, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Trenton Devils News Release


Duluth, GA - Trenton's playoff hopes suffered a serious blow Sunday at Gwinnett Center. The Gladiators moved past the Devils for the 10th spot in the American Conference, coming from behind with three goals in the final six minutes of regulation to thump Trenton, 4-2.

Gwinnett's league-leading power play unit provided all the offense needed Sunday, converting on three of eight opportunities. The special teams opened the scoring in the latter stages of the first for the home team. Captain Adam Berti got his first of three assists by helping the puck to Mike McLean along the right goal line. The former Cincinnati Cyclone jammed it under Dave Caruso's pads for his 15th of the season and a 1-0 Gladiators lead. Trenton killed off the other three power plays of the first, but mustered only four shots on David Brown while going 0-for-1 on the power play.

The start of the second period favored neither side, with blue-line-to-blue-line action predominating the first several minutes. The Devils got things clicking about halfway through, and the rhythm of the game picked up. One of Trenton's few quality breakout passes came from Justin Coutu to Tony Zancanaro into the Gwinnett zone. Tony's shot was stopped, but Jeff Prough forced it on goal with Brown slipping back into the back of the goal. He and the puck went across the red line and, after official review, the Devils tied the game on Prough's team-leading 26th score of the season at 11:11.

The Devils took the lead, 2-1, with four minutes left in the second period on a rush with Chris Poli, Dan Eves and Slavomir Tomko. After the initial chance was blocked, the puck came to Tomko charging down the slot and he blasted it around an Eves screen for his ninth of the season at 15:49. The Gladiators were outshot 16-7 and held scoreless in the second, a period that saw only one penalty call.

Taking a lead to the third period for the 26th time this season, the Devils battled to protect the advantage successfully for the first 14 minutes of the frame, but could not add to it. The Gladiators broke through with two more power play goals to tie and take the lead. First, Dan Sullivan made a brilliant redirection on a right-point drive from Drew Paris at 14:15 to knot the score 2-2. Seconds later, Chris Murray took three separate penalties: elbowing, instigating and fighting for a total of 12 minutes. Sam Roberts was also sent to the penalty box for fighting and instigating, but when the dust settled, the Gladiators got the man advantage.

At 15:34, Gwinnett used that edge to take the lead, 3-2, this time with Berti driving to the net along the right goal line and ending up on top of Caruso. The ensuing scramble led to Berti whacking at the puck from his knees and Matt Caruana taking the decisive shot. Caruso flung the puck with his bare hand out of the net, incensed that a goaltender interference call had not stopped play, and he was charged with unsportsmanlike conduct. The score marked only the third time this year the Devils fell behind after leading in the third.

An empty net goal from Caruana, his second score of the game, sealed the win for the Gladiators, 4-2. Dave Caruso made numerous stunning stops, 28 overall, in his third loss in as many days. The Devils (28-29-4-5, 65pts) now trail the Gladiators by two points, the Wheeling Nailers by three, and the eighth-place Reading Royals by six with six games to play. Trenton returns home for a Wednesday battle with the Johnstown Chiefs, the final contest between the division rivals before the iconic franchise relocates to Greenville, SC.

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