Blades blank Cyclones
Afterr a pair of tough losses last weekend to the South Carolina Stingrays, the Florida Everblades were in need of a win to close out their nine-game, thred-week homestand Wednesday night against the Cincinnati Cyclones.
They got just what they needed, defeating the Cyclones 3-0 at Germain Arena behind solid goaltending and a balanced offensive attack.
Following a scoreless first period, Florida’s first goal came less than five minutes into the second frame when Adam Brace cleaned up a point-blank shot from Mike Little for the game’s first goal. Mitch Wahl’s 12th goal of the season with less than 2:30 to play in the period was all the scoring the Everblades needed to end their losing skid.
“We knew we had to be patient with our scoring chances,” said Blades coach Greg Poss. “We didn’t try and overextend ourselves and give something up defensively. I thought we did a very good job of that, and the 3rd period opened up and we had a couple of good scoring chances.”
Andy Isles turned in one of his better performances in net for the Everblades, turning away all of the 25 shots he faced to secure the win.
The win ended a two-game losing skid for the Blades (34-19) as they begin to enter their stretch run to the playoffs-beginning this weekend with three games in 2 1/2 days against the Greenville Road Warriors and Gwinnett Gladiators.
“It’s going to be like a playoff series,” said Poss. “Their arena is booked (Thursday), so we don’t have the ice (to practice), but it’s good. We need the rest with three games coming up in 2 1/2 days.”
The divisional contests continue for the Everblades on their run to the playoffs when they return to Germain Arena March 11, to begin a three-game homestand against the Road Warriors.