WEEKEND RECAPFlorida (1-1-0, 2 PTS) traveled north of the border this past weekend to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to take on the Newfoundland Growlers for their first two games as an ECHL franchise. After a 3-2 Newfoundland win in its first-ever ECHL game on Friday night, the ‘Blades bounced back to earn the series split on Saturday with a 3-2 victory of their own.

Trailing 2-0 less than seven minutes into the third in the series opener, Florida netted its first goal of the season via Kyle Platzer to climb within one. Newfoundland struck with 3:04 left in regulation to stretch the lead back to two, but Matt Foget responded with 1:14 to play to bring the ‘Blades within one again. Florida pulled netminder Jeremy Helvig for an extra attacker, but the Growlers held on down the stretch to earn their first ECHL win.

Newfoundland took a lead in the first period in the series finale, but Florida bounced back to grab the lead in the second period with a pair of goals and didn’t trail the rest of the way. Again, Platzer provided the opening goal for the Blades, and Steven Lorentz registered one of his own a little more than five minutes later to make it 2-1 at the halfway mark of the middle period. The Growlers tied the game at two heading to the second intermission, but Mitch Vandergunst potted the game-winning goal in his ‘Blades debut at the 5:33 mark of the final period. Goaltender Jamie Phillips made that score hold up with eight saves in the third period, finishing with 25 saves in his debut with the team.  

LAST WEEK’S RESULTSOct. 12 | @ Newfoundland Growlers – L, 3-2

• RECAP | BOX SCORE

Oct. 13 | @ Newfoundland Growlers – W, 3-2

• RECAP | BOX SCORE

THIS WEEK’S GAMESOct. 19 | vs. Norfolk Admirals | 7:30 p.m. – Hertz Arena

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Oct. 20 | vs. Norfolk Admirals | 7 p.m. – Hertz Arena

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BLADES BITES

• Everblades head coach Brad Ralph secured his 100th career win behind the ‘Blades bench in the 3-2 win over Newfoundland this past Saturday. Ralph has amassed a 100-35-11 record in his three seasons with Florida.
• Kyle Platzer scored goals in both games of the opening weekend of the regular season, becoming the first Florida player since Kevin Lynch in the 2015-16 season to score goals in each of the first two games of the year.
• Matt Foget tallied a goal in his Everblades debut on Friday night, the second time in his professional career he has scored in a debut with a team. In his first career ECHL game last season, Foget found the back of the net in overtime for the Allen Americans.
• Goaltender Jamie Phillips earned the win in his ‘Blades debut, stopping 25 of the 27 shots he faced on Saturday.
• Florida is the least penalized team in the ECHL, averaging only three penalty minutes per game through two games.
• The Everblades are tied for the league lead in penalty kill success and have killed off all three opponent power plays so far this year.
• Florida has also had success on the power play, converting on 28.6 percent (2 for 7) of its man advantages.

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The Everblades are the proud ECHL affiliateof the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes###