ESTERO, Fla. – Devon Paliani scored the first natural hat trick by a Florida Everblades player in nearly nine years, as the Blades rallied from a 2-0 deficit to knock off the Atlanta Gladiators 4-2 in front of 5,508 fans Saturday night at Hertz Arena.

A back-and-forth first period saw both goaltenders, Florida’s Cam Johnson and Atlanta’s T.J. Semptimphelter, shine for 20 minutes, with Johnson stopping 10 shots and Semptimphelter turning aside nine. 

The Everblades had a great scoring opportunity just inside the 14:30 mark, as Maleek McGowan picked up an errant puck in the defensive zone and sprinted past the Gladiators defense, but was denied by Semptimphelter. Moments later, Atlanta struck first as Colton Friesen scored his second goal of the season from the left circle at 16:46. The 1-0 deficit marked the first time that the Blades have trailed in the young season.

Atlanta doubled its lead just over five minutes into the second frame on a redirection from Sam Tremblay that put the Gladiators ahead 2-0.

From that point, the Blades applied pressure for an extended stretch, with Paliani breaking through and making it a 2-1 game at the 12:29 mark. Paliani fired home a pretty feed from Jordan Sambrook on the doorstep for his second marker of the season, with Tyson Dyck earning the secondary helper. In the middle 20 minutes, Florida outshot Atlanta 13-7, after the visitors claimed an 11-9 edge in the first stanza.

Midway through the third period with the Everblades moving the puck on a delayed penalty and a six-on-five advantage Paliani got the equalizer, his second of the game. Paliani connected on a blast from the left circle, banging home a feed from Tyler Duke to knot  the score at 2-2 at the 11:13 mark. 

Paliani was not done, completing the natural hat trick at 12:30 of the final frame to give the Everblades a 3-2 lead on a pass from Maleek McGowan. 

Jack Horbach put the final nail in Atlanta’s coffin with an empty-net goal with 12.4 seconds remaining to close out an impressive comeback win.

Florida outshot 29-25 for the game. With his fourth-straight victory in between the pipes, Johnson remained perfect in goal for the Everblades, making a season-high 23 saves after stopping exactly 17 shots in each of the first three games.

Next up for the undefeated Blades is a season-long six-game road trip which will give the defending champ a crack at three South Division teams, including two for the first time this season. The trip gets underway Wednesday, October 28 in Orlando at 7:00 p.m. and will follow with two games in Greenville and three contests in Jacksonville. The Everblades will return to Hertz Arena on Friday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m for the first of two matchups against the South Carolina Stingrays.  Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

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BLADES BITS

Devon Paliani’s natural hat trick was the Everblades’ first in nearly nine years. The last Blade to complete the feat was John McCarron, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, who accomplished the feat on February 3, 2018 against visiting Greenville.

Paliani’s second-period goal was the 100th of his ECHL and procareer. Paliani scored goals in both games of the Atlanta series to reach the century mark. His natural hat trick was the first by an Everblade this season and first since Carson Gicewicz on March 27, 2026 versus Savannah.

The Everblades penalty-kill unit staved off six Atlanta power-plays, a season-high for an opposing team in four games this season.

 

Saturday Night’s Scoresheet

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