GREENVILLE, S.C. Chase Lang broke a scoreless deadlock in the final minute of the second period and notched two points, and powered by Justen Close’s 32 saves, led the charge for the Jacksonville Icemen to shutout the Greenville Swamp Rabbits by a 3-0 score on Saturday night.
It was a goaltending duel throughout, with both Justen Close of Jacksonville and Dryden McKay of the Swamp Rabbits trading save after save over the course of the first 40 minutes. McKay turned aside 11 first period shots, while Close countered with eight saves in the opening frame. The back-and-forth continued until the final minute of the second period, when a Swamp Rabbits turnover gave the Icemen some life. With 58.2 seconds remaining, Chris Grando found Chase Lang on the left side of the zone, with Lang slashing to the high slot and finishing with a snap shot past McKay to give the Icemen a 1-0 lead (Grando and Ivan Chukarov assisted). Despite the goal allowed, McKay made nine saves in the second, while Close added another 12 to his ledger.
Jacksonville found separation in the final period on special teams before sealing the game late. With 10:53 left, and in the midst of the third Swamp Rabbits power play, Noah Laaouan took a rolling puck off of a falling Swamp Rabbit skater and sprung Lang and Zach Jordan on a two-on-one break. Lang found Jordan for a backdoor redirect past McKay to double the Icemen lead to 2-0. Rob Calisti netted an insurance tally with an empty net and 2:09 left in the game, while Close finished a dozen more saves to complete a 32-save shutout, a 3-0 Icemen win.
Dryden McKay suffered the defeat, allowing a pair of goals on 28 shots in the loss (8-9-2-0).
BLADES ERUPT EARLY AND SLAY BEARS 4-2
ESTERO, Fla. – Led by the first career two-point performances by Isaac Nurse and Ben Brar – and another strong outing by goaltender Cam Johnson – the Florida Everblades scored the first three goals of the contest and never looked back, defeating the Orlando Solar Bears for the second-straight night, rolling to a 4-2 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 7,233 fans Saturday night at Hertz Arena.
Saturday night’s party got off to a fast start, as Craig Needham won the opening faceoff and scored just 11 seconds later to give the Everblades a quick 1-0 lead. Just activated for his home debut, Gary Haden fed a wide-open Needham from behind the Orlando goal line and Needham cashed in from the doorstep. Nurse also earned an assist on Needham’s third goal of the season.
With Florida on its second power-play shift of the contest, Colin Theisen finished off a crisp series of passes from Colton Hargrove and Tyler Kobryn for his ninth goal of the season as the Blades pulled ahead 2-0 with
2:40 left before the first intermission.
The Everblades’ hot start continued into the second period as Nurse took a feed from Brar, slipped past the Orlando defense and potted his third goal of the season at the 3:39 mark to give Florida a 3-0 lead. With a goal and an assist, Nurse registered the first two-point game of his professional career.
At 15:02 of the middle frame, Aaron Luchuk got the Solar Bears on the board with a power-play goal, his second score in as many games for Orlando, which cut the Everblades’ lead to 3-1.
Brar would also record a two-point night for the Everblades, adding an empty-net goal with 1:56 to play, while Jack Adams struck on the power play for the Solar Bears with 36 seconds to play, ending the contest with Florida on top 4-2.
The victorious Johnson (16-2-1-0) stopped 22 of 24 Orlando shots in the victory. Ryan Fanti (3-9-1-0) made 29 saves and suffered the loss for the visiting Solar Bears. The Everblades outshot Orlando in all three periods and held a 33-24 advantage in shots on goal for the night.
STINGRAYS FALL 5-1 TO GHOST PIRATES
The Stingrays dropped a 5-1 decision against the Savannah Ghost Pirates in front of 6,000+ fans on Saturday night at the North Charleston Coliseum. Josh Wilkins scored for the Stingrays, while Seth Eisele made 21 saves in the loss.
Wilkins made it 1-0 when a loose puck found him in front of the net, and he knocked in his eighth goal of the season. Savannah tied it at one on a redirection from Liam Arnsby, who tipped in an Evan Nause shot to even the score.
Savannah pulled ahead with a power play strike by Dennis Cesana. They made it 3-1 when Kyle Jeffers buried a breakaway goal right after a penalty against him expired. Will Riedell extended Savannah’s lead to 4-1 when he riffled a wrist shot past Eisele from the high slot.
The lone goal of the third period came off the stick of Nick Granowicz, who buried a shorthanded tally 12:08 into the final frame.
South Carolina Stingrays announced today that the club has signed goaltender Ryan Kenny to an ECHL contract.
Kenny, 25, joins the Stingrays today and will start this afternoon’s game against Savannah. The 6-2 205-pound goaltender has skated in 18 games for the Fayetteville Marksmen of the SPHL, posting an 11-5-1 record with a .915 save percentage and 2.72 goals against average.
A native of Sparta, NJ, Kenny has appeared in four ECHL games in his career split between the Reading Royals and the Atlanta Gladiators.
