Blades complete sweep of Gladiators
DULUTH, Ga. – The Florida Everblades pulled off a three-game weekend sweep of the Gwinnett Gladiators, boosting their playoff aspirations after once again coming from behind Sunday for a 5-3 victory. The win pushes the Everblades within five points of clinching a playoff spot.
For the third straight game, the Gladiators (29-30-7) tallied the game’s first goal in a first period they dominated. Offensively the Gladiators grabbed a 1-0 lead at the 8:54 mark when Michael Forney tallied his 18th goal of the year by deflecting a pass from Matt Francis past Everblades net-minder Jaroslav Janus. Defensively the Gladiators held the Everblades without a shot in the period until the final 3 1/2 minutes, finishing the period with a 16-2 advantage.
The second period belong to the Everblades (35-27-4) who came storming back to outscore the Gladiators 3-1 in the middle period to carry a one-goal lead into the second intermission. The comeback effort began just 28 seconds in when Brad Snetsinger tallied his fourth goal since joining the team and 20th overall on the year after lifting a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the left circle over the shoulder of Gladiators net-minder Chris Carrozzi. Ross Carlson and Bobby Raymond collected assists on the goal.
Matt Beca then put the Everblades on top for the first time in the game netting his 21st goal of the season at 8:47 after a couple saves were made by Carrozzi. The scoring play began with a shot by J.F. David from the blue line that Carrozzi kicked away, before then turning away Cedric McNicoll’s shot, but the second rebound into the right circle set up Beca perfectly to fire the puck home.
Gwinnett answered to even the score at 2-2 at 14:34 on a Dustin Cameron power-play goal, but late in the period the Everblades stole the lead back with a power-play goal of their own. With just 32 seconds remaining in the period Raymond kept the puck alive in the offensive zone before feeding an open Alex Imbeault with a pass in the high slot. With time to settle the pass, Imbeault rifled a shot into the upper right corner of the net for his team-leading 35th goal of the season.
The Gladiators again battled back to even the score 3-3, this time tallying on a 5-on-3 power play just 2:17 into the period when Justin Milo slipped home his sixth goal of the year.
The game remained tied through the middle part of the third period, but a long dump-in by Drew Larman was kicked away by Carrozzi into the left circle, where Mathieu Roy skated onto the puck and blasted home his 13th goal of the season to open a 4-3 Florida lead.
In the closing moments, the Everblades played solid defensively, never allowing Gwinnett to pull Carrozzi for the extra attacker. Then with 32 seconds left in regulation, Roy put the finishing touches on the game with his 14th goal of the season from the high slot off assists from Larman and Tim Spencer.
In goal Janus improved to 12-13-0 after turning away 34 of 37 shots. Carrozzi, who was making his eighth straight start saw his record fall to 16-18-5 after allowing the five goals on 24 shots.
On the power play, the Everblades closed out the game 1-of-2, while Gwinnett closed out the night 2-of-5 on the man-advantage.
The Everblades return to action Wednesday at Germain Arena when they host the Wheeling Nailers at 7:30 p.m.