Blades win 4th straight
The Florida Everblades are in a slow stretch of the season, but making the best of it. Florida downed Orlando 4-1 Friday at Germain Arena, their eighth consecutive game (7-0-0-1) without a regulation loss.
“The guys really played well, especially in the second and third periods,” said Blades coach Greg Poss. “We only allowed 14 shots the last two periods.
“It was really good the way we forechecked and created scoring chances.”
The Everblades are in a stretch where they’re only playing once in 13 days.
“We had the days off and we didn’t play a game,” Poss said. “It took us a while to get going. We were really sharper to start the second period.”
“It’s a good time to get some practice in,” Blades forward Brendan O’Donnell said. “When you’re playing a lot of games in a lot of nights, you don’t get a chance to work on your skills. It’s not that we’re tired” a little more than halfway through the season. We just want to work hard and work on some things.”
In the interim, Atlanta has closed within five points of Florida for first place in the ECHL South Division. Friday’s win, coupled with a Gladiators loss, stretched the lead back to seven points.
Florida fired 49 shots on Orlando goalie Rob Madore Friday – 40 in the last two periods. O’Donnell and Maxime St. Cyr each had a goal and an assist for the Blades. Matt Willows and Brant Harris also scored.
Anthony Peters stopped 23 shots for his 17th win. He improved to 17-9.
“The guy’s unbelievable,” O’Donnell said. “He’s won us so many games. It’s definitely a confidence booster knowing he’s there to back you up.”
The Blades broke out on top early. Ryan Martindale hit Willows with a pass in front of Madore, and Willows flipped it home on a backhand for his 15th goal of the season. Kevin Montgomery also assisted on the goal, which came 3:16 into the contest.
Montgomery was back in action for the first time after missing two months with an injury.
“We waited a little bit longer and held him out. Practiced him to make sure he was going to be back,” Poss said. “He should be one of the key guys on our power play.”
Aggressive forechecking paid off for the Bears early in the game. The Blades struggled several times in the first period to get the puck out of their zone. On one such occasion, Jack Rodewald knotted the score at 1-1, beating Peters for his sixth goal of the year.
“We’re a good forechecking team,” Poss said. “When we do that we play well. When we don’t we have things like what happened in the first period.”
Florida became the aggressor in the second period, pouring 22 shots on Madore. O’Donnell finally got the puck home with just over four minutes to play in the second. Corey Syvret and St. Cyr had the assists on O’Donnell’s second goal.
“There was a good shot from out on the point. Syvret, I think,” O’Donnell said. “The rebound came out to me. I kind of fumbled it to begin with, but I was able to slide it under the goalie. It went in.”
It appeared Orlando had gotten that one back moments later, but it was waived off for going in off a high stick. The Bears had only four shots on goal in the second period.
It was the Everblades’ turn to have one waived off early in the third. O’Donnell’s slow dribbler of a shot got in, but the puck went under the net with the goal not securely in place.
“I had no idea,” O’Donnell said. “I was trying to beat (Madore) back to the net. I guess he must have slipped back and knocked the net out of place.”
In the third period, the Blades caught Madore out of position behind the net, with Harris getting a shot off before Madore could get back. Kevin Lynch beat Madore to the puck and passed it out front for Harris to score his ninth.
St. Cyr made it 4-1 with 7:53 left in the game. O’Donnell had an assist.
St. Cyr has five goals this season, three in the last four games.
Strangest stat of the night: No penalties called.
“You don’t really – I mean, you notice it, but it was a good paced game with a lot of flow,” O’Donnell said. “You don’t think of it during the game. You just work hard.”
“It was a hard played game. It was a fast game,” Poss said. “That’s the way the game is supposed to be played.”
The Bears came into Friday night 7-3 in their last 10 despite playing seven in a row on the road.
Florida holds a 6-2 lead in the season’s 14-game Wawa Sunshine Cup series between the state’s two ECHL franchises.