WHO: Florida Everblades (21-6-2-1) vs. Worcester Railers (13-14-1-1)

BROADCAST: Watch every Florida Everblades game on FloHockey.TV. Listen to the exciting game action on ESPN Southwest Florida on 770 AM, 98.1 FM, 104.3 FM and online at https://espnswfl.com. 

WORCESTER, MA – Florida returned to its winning ways Friday night, skating to a 4–1 victory at the DCU Center to open its three-game set against the Worcester Railers.
 
There was no love lost between the two clubs despite not facing one another since the 2023–24 season, as tensions boiled over early with both sides dropping the gloves twice. During a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Oliver Cooper and Adam Samuelsson engaged in a heavyweight bout at center ice, igniting the Worcester crowd and setting the tone for a physical contest.
 
Florida broke the game open in the second period striking for three goals to seize control of the contest and doubled the hosts in shots 14-7. Massachusetts native Craig Needham opened the scoring for the Blades deflecting a point shot from Jordan Sambrook to extend his goal-scoring streak to five games. The visitors continued their momentum later in the frame as Logan Will capitalized on a chance from Quinton Burns that rang off the post.
 
Worcester answered at the 16:22 mark of the middle period on a redirection from Drew Callin to cut the deficit to one, but Tarun Fizer responded just 32 seconds later, snapping home a shot from the right circle to restore Florida’s two-goal advantage.
 
Brad Ralph’s group finished off an impressive performance, surrendering just two shots in the final frame. Fizer sealed the victory with an empty-net goal for his second tally of the night with under four minutes remaining in regulation.
 
Rookie blueliner Quinton Burns shined in the series-opening win, recording four assists, while goaltender Will Cranley earned his ninth straight victory, turning aside 13 of 14 Worcester shots. Florida was also sharp on the penalty kill, successfully defending Worcester’s lone power play opportunity.
 
With the win, the Blades improved to 19-0-2 when scoring three or more goals this season and have now won six straight meetings against the Railers.
 
These two teams will meet once again tonight with a 6:05 p.m. puck drop in Worcester for the middle game of the three-game set.

 
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