Late rally helps 'Blades earn point in overtime loss to Icemen

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Darik Angeli scored with 4:32 left in regulation to help the Florida Everblades force overtime, but Dajon Mingo found the back of the net with 3:51 gone in the extra session to push the Jacksonville Icemen to a 3-2 win on Friday night at Veterans Memorial Arena.

BOX SCORE

Facing the Icemen (23-29-5-1, 52 pts.) for the fifth time in the last 15 days, Florida (42-13-4-2, 90 pts.) had both a shorthanded goal and power-play goal to extend its point streak to six games (5-0-1-0).

The Icemen struck for the first goal, as Mike Hedden deflected Cole MacDonald’s pass inside Jacksonville’s defensive zone and managed to step ahead on a breakaway. Hedden then beat Everblades goaltender Cam Johnson (29 saves) through the five-hole on the ensuing rush to give the Icemen a 1-0 lead at the 6:38 mark of the first.

Florida tied the game on a shorthanded strike by Michael Huntebrinker with 2:18 gone in the second period. Huntebrinker picked up a loose puck in his own zone and skated ahead with Hunter Garlent on a two-on-one rush. From the left-wing circle, Huntebrinker then roofed his shot over the blocker of Jacksonville goalie Adam Carlson.

The Icemen went back ahead on Hedden’s second goal of the game at 8:50 of the second frame. An extended in-zone sequence for Jacksonville finally proved fruitful when Mingo dished a feed from the right point to the slot for Hedden. He lifted the puck past a sliding Johnson to make it 2-1.

Jacksonville’s Adam Dauda hauled down Hugo Roy in the last five minutes of regulation to give the ‘Blades a chance to tie the game with their fourth power play of the night. Florida won the ensuing faceoff, and Derek Sheppard blasted a shot from the slot. Angeli got a piece of the shot initially and then tracked down the rebound at the side of the net to shovel it in for his second goal in as many games.

Johnson turned up his play in net once the game hit overtime and had breakaway saves against Bobby Lynch and Hedden to keep the game going. But Jacksonville’s Mingo’s managed to locate a loose puck behind Johnson and tap it in to give Jacksonville its first win against Florida in nine games.

NEXT UPThe ‘Blades return home on Saturday to close out their sixth straight three-game week, hosting the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at 7 p.m. at Hertz Arena.

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