Blades conquer Gladiators
The Florida Everblades know they will see every opponent’s best game every night as they finish out the regular season.
Such was the case Tuesday night at Germain Arena- at least for two periods. In the end it was a combination of Florida’s forechecking and hitting plus a pair of goals by Kevin Baker that propelled the Blades to a 4-2 victory over the Gwinnett Gladiators, the fifth straight win for the Blades.
“Our bread and butter is on the forecheck and off cycles and with puck position in (the) zone, that’s where we are really good,” said Blades coach Malcolm Cameron. “We have some guys that can hit and guys that can create down low, and that’s been successful for us all season long.”
Gwinnett and Florida skated to a 1-1 tie in the first period. The Gladiators scored first against Blades net minder David Leggio (32 saves) on a power play.
The Blades (46-17-5) came right back with Baker scoring his first just 36 seconds later to tie it up.
The Blades took their first lead just under six minutes into the second period. Milan Gajic netted his eighth goal of the year, but Gwinnett would not go quietly. It took nearly 10 minutes for Jeff Mason to tie it 2-2 for the Gladiators (30-33-6), but that was as close as they would get.
Despite their feisty play throughout, in the end Gwinnett was no match for the Everblades, who would go on to dominate the third period.
Mark Lee got the official game-winning goal, the first of two goals in the final period. Baker closed out the scoring with his ECHL record-tying 27th power-play goal.
The Blades held the Gladiators to a paltry six shots over the last 20 minutes.
The Everblades and Gladiators skate for the final time this season Wednesday night at Germain Arena. The puck drops at 7:30.