(Photos by Nancy DeLander Beecher)
ESTERO, Fla. – Logan Lambdin scored two goals, added an assist, set off a teddy bear false alarm and led the Florida Everblades to a 4-1 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen in front of a season-high sellout crowd of 7,553 Saturday night on Teddy Bear Toss night at Hertz Arena.
The clubs split the first two games played in Jacksonville. The Icemen won 4-2 Saturday night. Florida opened the series with a 3-2 victory pm Friday.
While Lambdin provided the bulk of offensive firepower, Cam Johnson continued to shine in goal for the Blades. The ECHL’s winningest netminder this season picked up his ninth straight victory, stopping 21 of 22 shots to improve to 12-1 in 13 starts in 2024-25.
The party got off to a slow start as visiting Jacksonville struck midway through the first period to claim an early 1-0 lead. Chris Grando converted on the first power-play opportunity of the game by either team at the 10:54 mark.
Less than four minutes later, Lambdin connected for the Everblades and set off the teddy bear deluge. Unfortunately, the apparent equalizer was waved off by the game officials due to goaltender interference, the teddy bears were cleared from the ice, and Jacksonville maintained its 1-0 lead.
Eventually, Lambdin made sure that the visitors’ lead evaporated for good, as he banged home the puck from the doorstep with 13.6 seconds left in the opening frame to knot the score at 1-1. Jordan Sambrook and Colton Hargrove picked up the helpers on Lamdbin’s eighth goal of the season.
At 8:12 of the second, Lambdin struck again – this time on the power play – to give the Blades a 2-1 lead, with Anton Malmström picking up the assist. Lambdin’s goal was his ninth of the season.
Malmström and Lambdin hooked up again for an insurance goal at 9:01 of the third period, as the Everblades pulled ahead 3-1 with the team’s second power play goal of the contest. Malmström’s second two-point night of the season came on his third goal of 2024-25, while Lambdin finished off his third three-point performance this year.
Oliver Chau closed out the scoring with an empty-net breakaway goal with 2:22 to play in the contest. Chau leads the Everblades with 10 goals this season.
The Everblades outshot the Icemen 29-21, winning the shooting battle in each of the three periods.
