Blades ground Wings 3-2
The Florida Everblades made it two wins in a row on home ice Friday night, defeating the Kalamazoo Wings 3-2 at Germain Arena.
After a grind-it-out win Wednesday night, where coach Greg Poss credited players for playing as a team with the flu sidelining several members, the Blades showed few signs of it Friday in grinding out another victory.
“I think the flu is (working out) slowly,” said Poss. “Kalamazoo has a really good team, and we saw that tonight, especially in the second period.”
Newcomer Steven Whitney scored first for the Everblades, tipping in a shot by Mitch Wahl while parked in front of the net 16 minutes into the first period. Florida failed to capitalize on a power play to close out the frame, leading 1-0 at the first break.
The teams played most of the second period evenly before Kalamazoo tied the score, beating Florida netminder Andy Isles (28 saves) with less than 6:30 to go. The Blades won the ensuing faceoff and following over a minute of applying solid pressure, forward Evan Bloodoff’s 20th goal of the season came unassisted and put the Blades up 2-1.
“That was a great individual effort by Bloodoff, to score that goal,” said Poss. “Kalamazoo was applying a lot of pressure. We weren’t playing very well defensively in that period and it supplied a huge lift for the team.”
Florida extended its lead early in the third period.
While on the power play just three minutes into the final frame, Adam Brace put the Blades up 3-1 with the eventual game-winner.
Kalamazoo’s second goal cam during the final two minutes of the third period when they pulled their goalie to gain a two-man advantage after a Florida penalty.
The Blades (31-15) and Kalamazoo face off again Saturday night.