Blades pull out 2-1 win in shootout
As the old saying goes, all’s well that ends well.
Welcome to late night with the Florida Everblades.
Scoreless for 58 minutes Friday night, the Blades rallied when it counted to pull out a 2-1 shootout victory over the Elmira Jackals at Germain Arena.
Captain Matt Marquardt scored the only goal of the shootout, while goalie Anthony Peters stoned Elmira on all three shots he faced.
“We got the two points and we’re really happy with that,” Blades coach Greg Poss said. “The guys really wanted to win tonight. Now we have to do it tomorrow.”
After Peters stopped Elmira’s Colin Jacobs on the Jackals’ first opportunity of the shootout, Marquardt beat C.J. Motte at the other end. Peters then made the save against Elmira’s Cason Hohmann, and after Kevin Lynch missed for the Blades, Peters beat Kevin Clare to end the game.
Peters made 27 saves on the night as the Everblades got back in the winning column after consecutive defeats. It was a satisfying end to what had been a long, frustrating night.
The Everblades had lost their way to the back of the net. A single goal in an 8-1 loss last weekend, a goal early in a 4-1 loss Wednesday, and nothing for 58 minutes Friday.
Justin Agosta, a defenseman, finally ended the Blades’ slump. He kept possession of the puck along the boards, back near the blue line, then turned goalward and lifted a shot over Motte’s shoulder. Finally.
“I think it’s the first time I’ve really celebrated a goal,” Agosta said. “It’s been a frustrating few games for us. We had chances all game, I had chances. I used my body, and (Corey) Cowick was up on the point. I faked a drop pass to him, and one fake, and it ended up in the back of the net. I just made one move and I ended up top shelf.”
The Everblades kept Motte busy, and he kept them frustrated. For 41 shots, he kept them frustrated.
Finally, on the Blades’42nd shot, Agosta scored with 1:36 to play.
“He’s a creative player and he’s scored a couple of big goals for us,” Poss said.
That got the game into overtime. Both sides had excellent chances in the 3-on-3 overtime period, but Peters and Motte kept the game at 1-1. Peters, in particular, came up big on one shot in the OT.
“Once Peters made the shot in the overtime I had a pretty good feeling we were going to win it,” Poss said. “He was really on his game tonight.”
Peters said he couldn’t get caught up in all the saves Motte was making at the other end.
“You can’t get caught up in that,” Peters said. “It’s easy to get distracted. There’s that voice inside your head when you’re sitting there by yourself, weird things going on. I knew I couldn’t let in another one.”
Motte wound up with 46 saves, and took the loss anyway.
“If we wouldn’t have won the game we still would have played well,” Poss said. “We had a plethora of chances and couldn’t score a shot. We’re just in a little funk right now in terms of scoring, but right now we’ve got to play really well to win.”
The first period was the ultimate in the Blades’ frustration. It’s hard to imagine being so dominant, yet being worse off than having nothing to show for it.
The Everblades had a 16-1 advantage in shots when Elmira’s Allan McPherson scored with 3:20 remaining in the opening period.
The Blades outshot the Jackals 17-6 in the first and 12-9 in the second.
“Their goalie played really well, too,” Peters said. “We were outshooting them and down 1-0 there. Sometimes as a goalie you give up a goal early and it might be the only goal you give up. You’ve just got to take it one shot at a time. It’s never easy going down early like that, but you just try to give the guys a chance. Stop every shot, and fortunately that was what I was able to do.”
The team doesn’t announce attendance, but it clearly was one of the smallest crowds of the year.
After Saturday’s rematch, Florida hits the road for three games at Norfolk before returning to Germain Arena on Feb. 24 to start a six-game homestand.