'Blades Score Five Third Period Goals to Defeat Greenville

GREENVILLE, SC – Trailing 4-1 in the third period, the Florida Everblades scored five unanswered goals to defeat the Greenville Road Warriors 6-4 at the Bi-Lo Center Friday night.

Greenville scored first in this South Division tilt at 11:22 of the opening period. An Everblades turnover in the offensive zone, led to a scoring chance for the Road Warriors the other direction.  Kenndal McArdle took the puck form end to end and broke in on goal. McArdle wristed a shot which was stopped by Florida goaltender Rob Madore. Andrew Yogan picked up the rebound slid it past the pad of Madore for the game’s first goal.

The Everblades countered nearly two minutes later, as David Rutherford carried the puck to the slot and sniped a snap shot in the corner of the net on the glove side of Greenville netminder Scott Stajcer to tie the game at 1-1 after the first period played.

In the second,  Brandon Wong scored twice to give the Road Warriors a two-goal advantage. Wong scored his first on a 3-on-2 rush into the zone. Sean Berkstresser’s pass from the slot was delivered to Wong who wristed a shot past the shortside of Madore to give Greenville a 2-1 lead.  Wong scored his second goal of the game moments later to give the Road Warriors a 3-1 advantage after two periods played.

Nearly three minutes into the third, Greenville took advantage of a fortuitous bounce in front. Marc-Olivier Vallerand routinely dumped the puck into the zone around the boards. Madore skated behind his own net to play the puck. However, the puck skipped off the boards and bounced back directly into the slot to Jason Wilson who easily hurled the puck into the open net to extend the Greenville lead to 4-1.

Florida received a spark at 6:08 of the period when Aaron Bogosian swatted at a bouncing puck in mid-air and batted it into the net for the ‘Blades second goal of the night.

Nearly 90 seconds later, Florida converted on the power play, as Matthew Pistilli beat Stajcer on the shortside to pull Florida within one.

Pistilli struck again at 15:47 after he picked up a rebound off of a Charles Landry shot, and backhanded it into the Greenville net to complete the rally and tie the game at four.

The Everblades took their first lead of the game, with 70 seconds remaining, as a perfectly executed pass play from Rutherford and newcomer Maury Edwards was finished off by Mathieu Roy’s shot, which beat Stajcer on the backside to propel Florida to the 5-4 advantage.

Alex Hutchings added an empty net goal in the game’s closing seconds to seal the 6-4 come from behind victory for Florida.

Madore earns the win stopping 24 of 28 shots, while Stajcer takes the loss allowing five goals on 44 shots faced.

Florida now travels to Gwinnett for a Saturday night affair with the Gwinnett Gladiators.   Game time is set for 7:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast on 96 K-Rock (96.1).  Florida returns home to battle the Toledo Walleye on January 9, 11, 12, at Germain Arena.

Ticket Information: The Capital Bank Box Office is open Monday thru Friday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Fans may also call Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000, or order online at www.ticketmaster.com

Partial-season packages are still available, and start as low as $150 and offer a flexible option for fans. These packages make for great holiday gifts for the hockey fan in your life! For more information on all available packages, call the Everblades office at 239-948-7825.