Blades Sweep Worcester, Pendenza Nets 100th

ESTERO, Fla. – Mark Senden snapped a 3-3 tie with just under six minutes to play and Sean Josling turned in a three-point night as the Florida Everblades rode a three-goal third period to close out a three-game sweep of the Worcester Railers with a 5-3 victory before a standing room only crowd of 7,650 Saturday night at Hertz Arena.

In the victory, Everblades Captain Joe Pendenza notched his 100^th career goal in an Everblades sweater.

It took a while for the teams to heat up, but the Everblades and Railers combined for three goals in the final six minutes of the opening period as the Blades claimed a 2-1 lead. Sean Josling got the scoring started with his 14^th goal of the season, as he finished off a beautiful play right in front of the Worcester goal precisely at the 14:00 mark, converting passes from Oliver Chau and Pendenza to put the good guys in front 1-0.

Pendenza doubled the Blades’ lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 16:43 with Josling and Cam Darcy earning the helpers off some quick and precise passing, but Worcester’s Jack Quinlivin responded at 17:10 to make it a 2-1 contest heading into the first intermission.  

The tide shifted in a second period in which Worcester scored a pair of goals to erase what had been a two-goal Everblades’ lead at one point. For the Railers, Zsombor Garat scored with 14 seconds remaining in a power play at 7:29, while Andrei Bakanov added an even-strength goal at the 15:09 mark to put Worcester ahead 3-2 after 40 minutes.

As the midpoint of the third period approached, Will Reilly stopped the bleeding for the Everblades, tying the game at 3-3 with a power-play blast just 17 seconds into the man advantage at the 7:49 mark. The blueliner’s sixth goal of the year came off an assist by Josling, who picked up his third point of the contest. Reilly’s equalizer set the stage for Senden’s game-winner as he got behind the Worcester defense at 14:03 following a feed from Logan Lambdin, with Evan Nause also earning a helper on Senden’s ninth goal of the season that pulled Florida ahead 4-3.

Brett Davis added an empty-net goal with 1:32 to play, close out the scoring with the Blades on top 5-3.

The Everblades outshot the Railers 31-22. Cam Johnson (17-10-4-2) made 19 saves to earn the victory in goal, while Worcester’s Cole Ceci (1-3-0-0) registered 26 saves and suffered the loss.

The Everblades will hit the road to open the month of March with a three-game set versus the South Carolina Stingrays slated for Friday, March 1 at 7:05 p.m., Saturday, March 2 at 6:05 p.m. and Sunday, March 3 at 3:05 p.m. Following the trip to North Charleston, the Blades will be back at Hertz Arena on Wednesday, March 6 to face the Jacksonville Icemen at 7:30 p.m., followed by a meeting on Friday, March 8 against the Orlando Solar Bears at 7:30 p.m.

Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets. 

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BLADES BITS

Both Sean Josling and Joe Pendenza put two points on the board in the first period, scoring a goal and assisting on the other’s tally. Josling, who added his third point of the night with a helper in the final frame, stretched his point streak to three games, picking up six points on two goals and four helpers, while Pendenza picked up a goal and an assist in his third consecutive game.

Over the last 15 games, Pendenza has factored into the scoring in eight different games, putting up two points in each of those eight contests. In that stretch dating back to January 26, the Everblades captain has 16 points on six goals and 10 helpers. 

Will Reilly’s third-period equalizer gave him three goals in February, his highest monthly tally of the campaign.

Mark Senden‘s game-winning goal and Logan Lambdin’s game-winning assist were both players’ first points of the three-game series. Evan Nause added a game-winning assist, his second of the series.

Saturday Night’s Scoresheet 

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