A crowd of 7,412 welcomed the Florida Everblades back on the ice Thursday night after the Christmas break as they took on the South Division leaders, Greenville Swamp Rabbits. The teams met in November when the Everblades traveled north to Greenville for a three-game series, resulting in three points for the Everblades off one win, one loss, and one loss in overtime. Everblades coach Brad Ralph started goalie Cam Johnson against Swamp Rabbit netminder Ryan Bednard. Bednard has been on a cold streak, losing all six of his last starts, while Johnson has split his previous six starts with three wins and three losses. This three-game series, two in Estero and a New Year’s Eve game in Greenville is a key test for the Everblades as they look to close the points gap with fourth place Jacksonville.
The first period saw both teams struggling to find open ice, as it took almost four minutes for each team to register their first shot on goal. After killing off a two-minute penalty for tripping by Everblades forward Brett Davis, the Everblades picked up their tempo. Sean Josling broke the scoreless tie with a wrist shot from the edge of the faceoff circle on a pass from Cam Hausinger. Swamp Rabbits, Anthony Beauchamp delivered a hard hit in his defensive zone that led to penalties called against him and Everblades forward Zack Tsekos. Beauchamp received a five-minute penalty for boarding, and Tsekos received a two-minute penalty for roughing. The Everblades went on a three-minute power play after skating the first two minutes of Beauchamp’s five-minute penalty four-on-four, but the Everblades couldn’t mount a sustained attack. The first period ended with an Everblades lead, 1-0.
The Swamp Rabbits emerged from the locker room with renewed energy as they jumped on the Everblades. Swamp Rabbits forward Carter Souch jumped on an overskated puck and beat Cam Johnson on a wrist shot from the slot. Swamp Rabbits’ defenseman Mark Louis scored 40 seconds later with a wrist shot from the point, beating Cam Johnson over his shoulder. The Swamp Rabbits lead was short-lived as Everblades forward Andrew Fyten scored a powerplay goal at the six-minute mark. The Everblades added goals by Oliver Chau and Joe Pendenza, who scored with 1.4 seconds left in the second period, and the Everblades took a 4-2 lead to the locker room.
The scoring frenzy continued in the third period as Everblades forward Bobo Carpenter scored on a wrist shot, extending the Everblades lead to 5-2. The Swamp Rabbits responded 26 seconds later when Tanner Eberle scored from the point, cutting the lead down to two, 5-3. The Everblades settled into a conservative style of play after that goal, allowing the Swamp Rabbits to push the play. This resulted in Carter Souch’s second goal of the night on a one-timer from the faceoff dot. Ryan Bednard was pulled for a sixth attacker for the Swamp Rabbits, but Everblades defenseman Patrick Holway scored an empty net goal when he shot the puck from behind his own net, banking it off a dasher board and hitting the open net dead center. His goal at 19:37 of the third period closed out the scoring and sealed the victory for the Everblades, 6-4.
The Everblades outshot the Swamp Rabbits 38 to 22. Ryan Bednard took his seventh straight loss, making 32 saves for an .865 save percentage, and Cam Johnson made 18 saves for an .818 save percentage. The three stars for the night were all from the Everblades: Third Star was Sean Josling, who had one goal; Second Star was Andrew Fyten, who had one goal and one assist; and First Star was Logan Lambdin, who had one goal and one assist.
Game two is on Friday night in Estero, Fla, at the Hertz Arena at 7:30 p.m.
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