Blades look for redemption
Still smarting from the effects of Saturday night’s beatdown at Germain Arena, the Florida Ever-blades are eager for quick redemption against the Gwinnett Gladiators.
The Everblades (25-9) travel to Gwinnett (12-22) for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday with the Gladiators’ surprise 7-2 pounding still fresh on their minds. The beating is the worst of the season on home ice for the Blades since a 5-1 loss to Orlando back in October in just the third game of the season. The five-goal margin also represents the widest goal differential of the season.
Gwinnett scored early and often, beating netminder Andy Isles three times in a nine-minute span of the first period.
“The first period wasn’t that bad,” said Blades coach Greg Poss. “We gave up four scoring chances and three were in the back of our net because we don’t touch the puck on an offsides. On the second goal, we had the puck on our stick twice, in front of the net. We tried clearing it twice, right to them, and they end up shooting it in. The (third) goal was a 1-on-2, where we backed in and screened our own goalie.”
Bad defensive play and turnovers led to two more goals in the opening minutes of the second period. It sent Isles to the bench in favor of Allen York.
After Mike Little put the Blades on the board with one goal, Gwinnett beat York twice before the intermission to take a 7-1 lead into the final period.
“It was just one of those nights where we weren’t executing,” said Poss. “Every mistake we made, they scored on.”
The beatdown was in stark contrast to Friday’s 4-2 win over Tulsa when the Blades claimed a two-goal lead in the first period and went on to open a 4-1 gap.
Defenseman Cameron Burt drew first blood 12 minutes into the game by tipping in Mitch Wahl’s stray shot. Three minutes later, Chris Kushneriuk scored his fourth goal in two games, putting the Blades in firm control.
Florida’s defense locked down the Oilers in the second period, allowing no quality scoring chances as netminder Andy Isles made 18 saves. The defensive effort generated scoring chances which local product Bobby Preece capitalized on, scoring his first ECHL goal.