Blades blank Warriors 4-0
The Florida Everblades extended their winning streak to three games Friday night by shutting out division rival Greenville 4-0 at Germain Arena.
Florida showed it was the better team throughout, outskating the Road Warriors. That speed helped the Blades strike early, bucking a recent come-from-behind trend and allowing the Blades to score twice in the opening 6 1/2 minutes.
Defenseman Cameron Burt was first to sound the siren for the Blades by firing home a failed attempt by Brant Harris while on the Blades’ first power play of the night. Harris got the first of two goals 2 1/2 minutes later, beating the Greenville goaltender for his ninth goal of the year and a 2-0 Blades lead.
Florida failed to convert on an early power play opportunity in the second period, but the pressure generated led to their third goal of the night by Evan Bloodoff, who used a Greenville shift change to score his 15th goal of the season, putting the Everblades in firm control heading into the final period.
Brace added his second goal of the night while on the power play with less than 5:30 to play.
“The most important thing is that we want to get more consistent game to game,” said Blades coach Greg Poss. “We’ve played (back-to-back) games where we’ve played really well defensively and we capitalized offensively.”
In net, Allen York turned in another stellar performance for the Blades, recording his fourth shutout of the year turning away all 33 shots he faced. York was quick to downplay his outstanding play.
“(My play) has been sporadic, but I’m not going to complain about four shut outs. That’s good, hopefully it keeps going.”
Florida (28-11) and Greenville (25-18) skate again Saturday night at Germain Arena.