Pistilli’s Four-Point Night Powers Everblades

Estero, FL – The line of Matthew Pistilli, A.J. Jenks and Brandon MacLean combined for eight points as the Florida Everblades rolled past the Elmira Jackals 5-2 Wednesday at Germain Arena, improving to 8-0-0-1 on the young season.

On the night when the defending ECHL scoring champ, Mathieu Roy, made his season debut for the Everblades and added two assists, it was Pistilli who stole the show with a goal and three assists Wednesday.

Pistilli got the scoring started with 10:51 to go in the first, posting Florida to a 1-0 lead by grabbing a back door pass on the power play from Roy and ripping a rising one-timer past Elmira goalie Scott Greenham for his league-best eighth goal.

In all, the Blades outshot the Jackals 17-5 in the first but could not solve Greenham after Pistilli’s strike, as the Elmira keeper made a pair of point-blank denials on Roy to keep the score 1-0 through one.

With 13:38 to go in the second MacLean gave the Everblades some separation at 2-0, redirecting home a low shot from Pistilli for his third goal in two contests.

Jenks followed MacLean with a pair of goals, ripping a short snap shot over Greenham with 7:34 to go in the second before lobbing in a Roy rebound with 42 seconds left in the middle frame for a 4-0 Everblades advantage after two.

Elmira gave the Everblades a scare in the third with back-to-back goals from Artem Demkov to cut the score to 4-2, but a Mike Merrifield empty-netter in the final two minutes put the game out of reach with the final 5-2 margin.

Florida netminder Jesse Deckert collected 24 saves en route to his sixth victory of 2013-14 while Greenham slipped to 2-2-0-0 despite 30 stops.

The Blades and Jackals will reconvene Friday for a 7:30pm rematch at Germain Arena.

Tickets are now on sale at the Capital Bank Box Office at Germain Arena, Monday through Friday, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Saturdays 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

Friday’s grudge match will be broadcast locally on FOX Sports Radio 1350 AM and worldwide online on America ONE, the official internet television provider for the ECHL, at www.americaonesports.com. Pregame coverage will get under way at 7:15pm.

2013-14 Season Ticket Package Information

Ticket packages for the 2013-14 season are currently on sale—and going fast!  Full season packages begin at $380, while 10 and 20 game packages start as low as $160. Sign-up for a new season ticket package today, and receive a $20 gift card per seat to Outback Steakhouse!

For more information call 239-948-7825, or stop by the Everblades main office located at Germain Arena.

Office hours are Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.The Everblades are the proud ECHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning.

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