Blades sweep Gladiators
It’s a long season, but the Florida Everblades are off to a great start.
The Everblades breezed to a 6-1 win over the Atlanta Gladiators Saturday night, completing a two-game ECHL season-opening sweep at Germain Arena.
Ethan Werek had two goals and Mke Aviani had a goal and two assists for the Blades. Anthony Peters got his first start of the season in the net and turned away 29 of 30 shots.
“Those were two nice goals,” Blades coach Greg Poss said. “Carried the puck real well. Big body. He was very effective out there. It was good to see he got rewarded.”
Werek had less to say about the two he scored than the ones he didn’t.
“It was my first game in six months,” Werek said “I had to get my legs under me. It felt better. I had a lot of opportunities I didn’t capitalize on.”
For the second night in a row, Florida jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead.
The Blades opened the scoring just 3:47 in, with Kevin Lynch firing the puck past Gladiators goaltender Kent Patterson. Matt Marquardt and Brendan O’Donnell had the assists on Lynch’s second goal in as many nights.
Gabriel Desjardins made it 2-0 less than four minutes later, taking a pass from Mike Aviani and beating Patterson. Evan Bloodoff also had an assist on Desjardins’ first goal of the young season.
Aviani made it 3-0 with his first goal this season. Bloodoff picked up another assist.
Atlanta’s lone goal came late in the first period. Max Everson beat Patterson from the point. Garry Nunn and Thomas Frazee had the assists for the Gladiators.
That’s where the resemblance to Friday night ended. Unlike Friday, there was no Atlanta comeback and no need for overtime.
“We definitely learned from last night,” Everblades coach Greg Poss said. “It was an identical score from last night in the first period, but it wasn’t the same attitude. We kept our foot on the pedal and played a very solid 60 minutes. It’s a lot more fun to play when everybody plays the game the right way.”
Matt Willows made it 4-1 Florida in the second period. His first goal of the season was assisted by Aviani and Kevin Montgomery.
One minute later, the Blades got a power-play goal from Werek, assisted by Matt Stanisz and Corey Syvret.
At that point, Atlanta coach Andy Brandt had seen enough of Patterson, who had given up five goals on 17 shots. The Gladiators inserted former Florida goaltender Andy Iles in the net.
Werek scored his second of the night on a breakaway in the final seconds of the second period, beating Iles for a 6-1 Florida advantage. Corey Cowick had an assist.
The third period was notable mainly for lost tempers. A scuffle midway through the period earned Cowick a 10-minute misconduct penalty and two minors. Another a few minutes later got Atlanta’s Tyler Murovich and the Blades’ Mike Cornell and Syvret sent off the ice for the rest of the night.
“Naturally when you play games back to back, things tend to get chippy,” Werek said. “It’s like a playoff series. We play mini-playoff series all year long. We had veteran guys out there who didn’t let it get out of hand.”
The two teams square off again for two games next weekend in the Atlanta suburbs.
The Everblades are home Wednesday against the Norfolk Admirals to close out the season-opening homestand. The Admirals are making their only appearance of the season at Germain Arena.
NOTES: Friday’s 4-3 Everblades win in the season opener featured the first 3-on-3 overtime goal in ECHL history. Former Gladiator Bloodoff tallied the game-winner for Florida after Atlanta rallied from a 3-0 deficit to force overtime. This is the first season the ECHL has used the 3-on-3 format for overtime. Florida rookie defenseman Logan Roe of Fort Myers was a healthy scratch for the second time in as many games this season. Roe played college hockey at Canisius. The Gladiators changed their city name from Gwinnett to Atlanta for this season. The team continues to be based at Infinite Energy Arena in Gwinnett County, Ga., in the northeast suburbs of Atlanta.