Blades post 5th straight win
The Florida Everblades are on a hot streak.
They beat the Idaho Steelheads 3-0 Saturday at German Arena to sweep a two-game series. It is the Blades’ fifth consecutive win. The Steelheads saw their winless streak extended to six games.
“It was a really good win,” Everblades coach Greg Poss said. “Sixty complete minutes. We played the way we want to play. I thought we did that in the third period (Friday). Tonight we did it for three periods.”
Facing an Idaho team a long, long way from home and playing its third game in as many nights, the Blades applied pressure from the start. It took a long time, but all that pressure eventually paid off for Florida.
The Blades dominated shots on goal 21-10 over the first two periods, but for nearly half the game couldn’t get on the scoreboard. Corey Cowick finally lit the lamp with 12:52 remaining in the second period, slapping at the puck several times in front of the net until finally getting it past Idaho goaltender Maxime Lagace.
“We really had to work hard to get that first goal from Cowick,” Poss said. “We had to grind them down. That was the big goal. And then the power-play goal was a nice one.”
Just seven seconds into a power play, defenseman Corey Syvret made it 2-0 for Florida. Cowick had an assist on Syvret’s goal.
There were times the ever-pressing Blades left themselves open to a counter attack. While they didn’t get all that many shots overall, the Steelheads had several clear chances at Florida goaltender Daniel Altshuller, who has seven wins in eight decisions in goal and was up to the task.
“Altshuller made a big save on a breakaway for us and preserved the win,” Poss said. “We didn’t give them that many scoring chances, and when we did Altshuller played well. He’s been playing well the whole season. We also played good team defense. That’s kind of our recipe for success. We tried to play in the offensive zone. We a good job controlling the puck, not throwing pucks away.”
Lagace kept Idaho in the game, stopping 30 shots. Idaho pulled Lagace in the last two minutes for a sixth attacker. The Blades responded with Jon DiSalvatore’s unassisted empty-net goal with 37.7 seconds remaining. It is DiSalvatore’s first ECHL goal.
The Blades have been playing their two goalkeepers, Altshuller and Anthony Peters, on an equal basis. The pair entered Saturday night ranked third and fourth in the ECHL in goals-against average.
“We rotate them, keep them fresh,” said Poss. “We’ve played a lot of games, the most games in the league (15).”
The South Division-leading Everblades (11-4) have a league-high 22 points.
Ethan Werek had a pair of assists for the Everblades.
“They have a really good team,” Poss said. “We play them three times out in Idaho. We just won two games. We’ll play them the week after Thanksgiving.”
Florida’s homestand continues Wednesday night against the Wheeling Nailers. That’s the first of a three-game series, with the other two games Friday and Saturday, against a team that began Saturday in first place in the ECHL North Division.
“Wheeling’s got a good team coming in here,” Poss said. “That’ll be a good challenge for us.”
NOTES: Saturday’s game featured the ECHL’s top two scorers. Idaho’s Colton Beck had 16 points entering the contest, and Florida’s Matt Marquart had 15 points. Despite being outscored 2-0 in the opening period Friday night, the Blades began Saturday with a 20-7 advantage in the first period for the season. Saturday night’s first period was scoreless. The Blades auctioned off their camoflauge jerseys, worn both games this weekend, after Saturday’s game. Proceeds from the jersey auction goes to the National Coalition of Patriots, a veterans support group.