GREENVILLE, S.C. — After playing in their first of three games this week against the South Carolina Stingrays on Nov. 8, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits will return home to Bon Secours Wellness Arena to host the Atlanta Gladiators. This will be the Swamp Rabbits’ fourth home game for this season, as they will host a Star Wars theme night with special giveaways and festivities before and during the game.
As such, this will be the club’s first three-in-three for this season. For those unaware of what a three-in-three is, it’s essentially three games played in three consecutive days — either against the same teams or different ones. In this week’s three-game action, the Rabbits, of course, played against the Stingrays at Charleston last night with a score of 5-2 S.C., and will then play against the Gladiators twice, with today’s game being in Greenville and tomorrow’s being in Atlanta.
A lot of traveling for this Greenville Club, but what can the team expect to see and need to improve on prior to the two-game matchups against the Gladiators?
Discipline
The Swamp Rabbits are a new team. Not only do they have an entirely new coaching staff running the bench, but they also have many new players, many of whom are young and inexperienced. What the team has really struggled with is defensive coverage. There were too many turnovers and giveaways during their last home game against the red-hot Savannah Ghost Pirates, despite having very good looks in their offensive zone. A team simply cannot give up such an amount of goals and not respond with goals from themselves. They either need to buckle down defensively or put more pressure on offensive zone plays.
The Statistics
For the clubs’ respective stats, the Rabbits are 1-3-1 in five games, while the Glads are 3-4-2 in nine games. That’s a four-game difference, so statistics can say a lot about the standings but not the current performances. Atlanta recently came off a 5-0 loss against the Jacksonville Icemen and is currently in fifth place in the South Division and tenth in the Eastern Conference, while the Rabbits are in last place for seventh in the division and fourteenth in the conference.
Power Plays and Penalty Kills
For the power plays and penalty kills, Greenville currently has a 16% PP success rate with a 92% kill percentage; Atlanta has a 13% PP success rate with a 79% kill rate. The Swamp Rabbits and Gladiators have each scored three goals on the PP, while the Rabbits have killed 11 of 12 penalties taken, with the Gladiators killing 22 of 29 penalties.
Coming into the game, the Swamp Rabbits have just 40 PIMs in five games this season, which is second in the league behind the Utah Grizzlies. Atlanta has 71 penalty minutes in nine games this season.
Goaltenders
Jacob Ingham of the Swamp Rabbits may start tonight after playing last night against the Stingrays. He currently has a 2.98 goals-against average (GAA) and a .920 SV%. The Gladiators have Drew DeRidder as their starting goaltender, as he played yesterday against Jacksonville. He has posted a 2.52 GAA and a .919 SV% for 161 saves and 13 goals against from five games. Seeing that Atlanta has a three-in-three this weekend, I would expect Ethan Haider to get the start as he’s 2-2 on the season with a 2.52 GAA, .908 SV%, and one shutout.
Leading Point Makers
Patrick Moynihan is the Swamp Rabbits’ current leading point leader with a goal and four assists. Meanwhile, the Glads have the likes of Cody Sylvester who has three goals and three assists for six points on the season.
Puck drop is at 7:05 p.m. at Bon Secours Wellness Arena as the Swamp Rabbits host the Gladiators for their Star Wars theme night.
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