PREVIEW: 'Blades wrap up four-game week in Jacksonville on Sunday

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Playing for the third time in three days, the Florida Everblades (37-13-3-2, 79 pts.) close out this season's fourth and final stretch of four games in five days with a Sunday road matinée against the Jacksonville Icemen (20-25-5-1, 46 pts.). 

VITALS:Game 56: Everblades at Jacksonville IcemenWhen: 3 p.m. ETWhere: Veterans Memorial ArenaWatch: ECHL TVListen: Mixlr | WJBXSocial: Twitter | Instagram

Last time outThe Everblades enter Sunday's game on the heels of a 5-1 loss to the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday night at Hertz Arena. Jakob Reichert and Alex Rodriguez both scored twice for the Admirals, and Jake Theut made 36 saves to earn his first ECHL win. The Admirals scored twice in the first 61 seconds of the game to set the tone early and also had both a power-play goal and shorthanded goal to halt Florida's four-game winning streak. RECAP

Series At A GlanceSunday is the eighth of 13 meetings between Florida and Jacksonville this season, with the 'Blades holding a 5-1-0-1 mark against the Icemen through the first seven matchups. The two teams have squared off only twice in Jacksonville this season, and the two tilts were separated by only a week in early December. The Icemen won a 3-2 shootout affair on Dec. 4, before the 'Blades won by the same score in regulation on Dec. 11. Florida holds a 10-3-2 edge in the series in Jacksonville and is 27-4-3 overall in the all-time series. 

Players to WatchJoe Pendenza (FLA) - The sixth-year pro had a goal for the second straight night on Saturday and has registered at least one point in five of his last six games, a stretch that dates back to Feb. 7. Pendenza has registered six multi-point games this year, including one multi-goal outing. The Wilmington, Massachusetts, native is just shy of a point-per-game pace, with 25 points (12g, 13a) in 29 games with the Everblades. 

Chase Lang (JAX) -  Though he was scoreless on Friday against the Everblades, Lang is still working on one of his best offensive stretches of the season over the last month. During that timeframe, he has tabbed at least one point in 11 of the 13 games he's played in and has recorded 17 points (8g, 9a). He started the stretch with a season-best eight-game point streak from Jan. 25-Feb. 14. Lang leads Jacksonville with 42 points (17g, 25a) this season. Shots, Shots, ShotsFlorida held a 37-31 edge in shots on goal on Saturday against Norfolk, marking the 23rd time this season that the 'Blades have posted 35 or more shots on goal in a game. The Everblades have now outshot their opponent in 42 of their 55 games this season and have been outshot a league-low 13 times. Dating back to last season, Florida has been outshot only 29 times in its last 127 games, just 22.8% of its games. 

Answering the CallEach of the last four times that Florida has been held to less than two goals, it has answered by scoring at least five goals its next time on the ice. Most recently, Florida skated to a 5-3 win against the Atlanta Gladiators on Feb. 14 after being held to one goal on Feb. 11 in a 3-1 loss to Atlanta. In fact, Florida has bounced back with at least three goals in every game following one where it was held to less than two this year.  

Home Streak Final FiguresSaturday was Florida's first regulation loss since Jan. 7, ending a home point streak of 10 games and a home winning streak of six games, both of which were season-highs. Prior to the setback against Norfolk, the 'Blades had wins in 12 of their last 14 home games dating back to a 5-2 win over the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Dec. 21. 

Next UpFlorida has to endure another set of three games in three days next weekend, starting with a rematch of the 2019 Eastern Conference Final on Friday night against Newfoundland. 

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The Florida Everblades are the proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators and AHL's Milwaukee Admirals