ESTERO, Fla. – A three-point night from Conner Doherty powered the Blades to a 5–2 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen in front of 5,180 fans at Hertz Arena marking Florida’s first win of the three-game series between the two.
 
The opening frame remained scoreless at both ends with Jacksonville registering five shots on goal while the Blades more than tripled that total, outshooting the Icemen 17–5.
Jacksonville struck early in the second period as Holden Wale converted a high-slot chance past Blades goaltender Cam Johnson off a feed from Nathan Dunkley to open the scoring 1–0.
Florida wasted no time tying the game at the 11:59 mark as a scramble in front of Icemen Goaltender Michael Bullion’s crease ended with Jett Jones burying the puck for his first goal on home ice since November. Jesse Lansdell and Conner Doherty picked up the assists on the play.
 
With 25.5 seconds remaining in the middle frame, Craig Needham scooped up a loose puck from an Icemen forward in the Blades’ zone and went end to end, scoring an unassisted goal off an Icemen defender to give Florida its first lead of the game.
 
The second period closed with Cam Johnson turning aside five Jacksonville shots, while Michael Bullion faced 14, giving Florida 31 shots on goal to Jacksonville’s 10 through two periods.
 
Carrying momentum into the final frame, Oliver Cooper redirected a blue line feed from Doherty just over a minute into the third period to make it 3–1, with Kyle Betts earning the secondary assist.
 
Doherty continued his impressive night, scoring a one-timer off the faceoff past Bullion’s blocker to make it 4–1, recording his second goal of the season and first three-point game of the year.
 
Adrien Beraldo got one back for Jacksonville late in the third, cutting the deficit to two goals; late in the frame, Jett Jones sealed the victory with an empty-net goal, marking his second goal of the night and his second multi-point game of the season, securing a 5–2 win over the Icemen.
 
At the end of 60 minutes, Johnson faced a total of 14 shots, stopping 12, whereas Bullion saw 44 shots and turned away 40.
 
The two teams will meet again this Friday, January 16, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, January 17, at 7 p.m., as the Blades look to execute another victory over Jacksonville.

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BLADES BITS
 
Cooper's goal was his 100th point in his professional career.

Needham is now on an eight-game point streak and has a goal in seven of his last eight.
 
Florida has now gotten at least a point in nine consecutive home games


Wednesday’s Gamesheet

 
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