Everblades on the road for four games
The Florida Everblades swept all three home games last week to maintain their four-point lead in the ECHL’s East Division standings.
They took two games from Greenville, 4-0 and 2-1, over the weekend after a 4-1 victory over South Carolina earlier in the week. The Blades (29-11) lead the Reading Royals (28-15) and Greenville (25-19) in the division standings with 32 games remaining until the postseason.
The Blades are on the road for four games in the Northeast over five games, starting Wednesday at Elmira followed by three back-to-back at Reading. The Blades then return home for nine straight on home ice at Germain Arena starting Feb. 11.
Evan Bloodoff snapped a 1-1 tie with 1 1/2 minutes remaining Saturday night with his shot clanking off the post to seal the 2-1 victory. The win extended the Blades’ current winning streak to four in a row. Jess Wilson’s goal early in the contest put the Blades in front 1-0, but Greenville tied it in short order and the game stayed deadlocked until the final minutes.
“It’s tough to beat a team twice in a row,” said Blades coach Greg Poss. “I thought we got better as the game went on. We gotta win with good defense that has to be the staple of our game.”
Goaltender Andy Isles made 24 saves.
Friday night, the Blades outskated the Warriors by striking early taking a 2-0 lead into the second period. Cameron Burt and Brant Harris accounted for those goals.
Bloodoff scored to put the Blades up 3-0 entering the final period.
“The most important thing is that we want to get more consistent game to game,” said 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, recording his fourth shutout of the year turning away all 33 shots he faced.