Blades put on clinic against Icemen in 6-2 victory

ESTERO, Fla. — Joe Cox, Jordon Southorn, and John McCarron all registered multiple points and Jeremy Helvig made 22 saves to push the Florida Everblades to a 6-2 win over the Jacksonville Icemen on Saturday night at Hertz Arena.

After a come-from-behind victory on Friday night, the Everblades (5-3-2-0, 12 pts.) scored three times in each of the first two periods to earn their first sweep of the season and third win in the fourth straight game against Jacksonville (7-4-0-0, 14 pts.).

Just 1:08 into the first period, the Icemen took the lead on a goal from Cam Maclise, the first of two in the game for the Jacksonville forward.

But it was all Florida from there, and the ‘Blades scored three times before the first intermission to take a 3-1 lead. The Everblades capitalized at 9:10 of the opening period after a successful penalty kill shifted the momentum. Steven Lorentz caught a pass at the bottom of the left circle, and he then squeezed a shot inside Jacksonville goaltender Mikhail Berdin’s blocker side to tie the game.

On the heels of a two-point night on Friday, Adam Gilmour helped set up the goal that put Florida up for good. Gilmour located Jordan Southorn, who was entering the offensive zone, and Southorn wired a shot past the outstretched glove of Berdin to give the 'Blades a 2-1 edge with 5:13 to play in the first frame.

With 2:25 left in the first, Southorn then set up the next goal by firing a shot from the right point that was deflected past Berdin by Michael Neville. Neville’s tally was his first with the ‘Blades in just his second game after being activated from the injured reserve on Friday.

Cox extended the lead to three just 28 seconds into the second period, batting a loose puck in the slot past Berdin for the first of his two goals in the game.

Nathan Perkovich finished off a feed from Zach Nastasiuk on a 2-on-0 rush at the 7:25 mark of the second to make it a 5-1 ‘Blades lead.

The 'Blades most productive offensive line in the game continued to chug along at the end of the second, as Cox added the sixth goal with just over a minute to play in the period. John McCarron and Southorn assisted on the play for their fourth and third points in the game, respectively, season-high point totals for both players.  

The Icemen scored their second of the game at 11:12 of the third period with Maclise’s second tally of the night, but that was all the closer Jacksonville could get.

Helvig picked the win for the 'Blades, the first of his professional career, to improve to 1-2-2-0 on the year.

The line of Cox (2g, 1a), Lorentz (1g 1a), and McCarron (4a) continued to roll as they factored into four of the 'Blades' six goals.

Southorn had his best game of the year, posting a goal and two assists to match his career-high.

The weekend sweep improves Florida to 16-0-2-0 all-time against Jacksonville.

Florida begins a season-long seven-game road trip next Wednesday with its fifth straight meeting with Jacksonville. Faceoff is slated for 7 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Arena.  

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