Three-Goal Third Power Blades Over Rays

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Reise Zmolek snapped a 1-1 tie, Mark Senden found the net twice and the Florida Everblades scored four unanswered goals to run their winning streak for four games, with an impressive 5-1 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays Friday night at North Charleston Coliseum.

With a fourth straight victory, the Everblades have moved into a tie with the Stingrays for third place in the ECHL South Division standings. Both teams have 65 points in the league standings, with Florida doing so in one fewer game played.

The long-time rivals traded first-period goals with the Everblades striking early and the Stingrays answering just after the middle of the frame.

Florida jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 1:48 in the contest, lighting the lamp on the game’s first shot in rather unorthodox fashion. Logan Lambdin chased down a puck fired down the ice from Jordan Sambrook from deep in the Blades’ end, eventually winning a battle with South Carolina netminder Mitchell Gibson below the home team’s goal line to claim the puck. A hustling Lambdin played the role of Johnny-on-the-Spot to perfection, banking the puck off a Stingray defenseman into the net to claim his 11^th goal of the season, with Sambrook and Luke Santerno earning the helpers. 

South Carolina’s Nick Leivermann pulled the Stingrays even with a goal at 12:12 of the first, as the teams remained knotted at 1-1 heading into the first intermission. 

In the second period, the Everblades would reclaim the lead for good at the 4:43 mark, as a streaking Reise Zmolek crashed the South Carolina net and picked up his fourth goal of the season – and the game winner – off a feed from Brett Davis who was stationed in the slot. Kieran Craig also earned an assist in his memorable professional debut as the Blades pulled ahead 2-1 on the only goal of the middle stanza.

Three third-period goals in a 1:50 span midway put the game away, as the Everblades’ lead grew to 5-1. Senden potted his 10^th and 11^th goals of the year at the 10:32 and 12:22 marks, while Joe Pendenza added his 19^th marker at 11:17.

Florida’s third-ranked penalty kill unit held serve against the seventh-ranked South Carolina power play, as the Everblades stymied the Stingrays on all four of the Rays’ power-play opportunities.

Cam Johnson (18-10-4-2) made 20 saves and picked up his third straight victory for the Everblades, while 
Gibson (17-11-1-1) registered 20 saves in a loss for South Carolina. Florida outshot the host Stingrays 25-21.

The Everblades continue the three-in-three series against the Stingrays with games on Saturday, March 2 at 6:05 p.m. and Sunday, March 3 at 3:05 p.m. Following Sunday’s matinee in North Charleston, the Blades will head back to Hertz Arena for a Wednesday, March 6 meeting with the Jacksonville Icemen at 7:30 p.m., followed by a Friday, March 8 contest 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

Everblades improved to 3-2-1-0 vs South Carolina, including a 2-1-0-0 mark in three games played in North Charleston.

Mark Senden picked up his first two-goal game as an Everblade in his fourth multi-point effort of the year.

Joe Pendenza scored a goal for the fourth consecutive game, giving him seven points in his last four outings.

Logan Lambdin’s first-period goal and third-period assist gave him points in back-to-back games for the first time since the opening two games of the Adirondack series on February 7 and 9. He also picked up his first goal since the opener of that series, a stretch of 10 games. On both of Lambdin’s last two goals, Jordan Sambrook picked up the helper.

With two assists, Brett Davis ran his point streak to three games, as he has one goal and three helpers in that stretch.

Kieran Craig notched his first professional point on Reise Zmolek’s game-winning goal. In 49 collegiate contests over two seasons with Carleton University from 2022-24, Craig scored 22 goals and logged 27 assists for 49 total points. 

Friday Night’s Scoresheet 

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