JACKSONVILLE (Florida Sports Wires) – Mark Senden scored two first-period goals and posted three points on the night
as the Florida Everblades led from wire to wire, defeating the Jacksonville Icemen 4-1 Saturday night at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Round one of the South Division heavyweight battle went the way of the Everblades. Less than two minutes after Sean Allen outpointed the 6-foot-8, 240-pound AJ Schlepp in a spirited battle of big men, Senden rode the energy and opened the scoring for Florida. Senden buried a picture-perfect backdoor feed from Jesse Lansdell for his second goal of the season and a 1-0 lead at the 11:49 mark.
Less than three minutes later, Senden struck for the second time, potting his third goal of the season at 14:32 for a 2-0 lead. The goal came just 20 seconds into the Everblades’ first power-play shift of the night, as Senden buried a pass from Jack Horbach and closed out a rush to double the lead.
Just 6:33 into the second period, Jacksonville’s Adam McMaster gave the home team a power-play goal of its own, as he cut the Everblades’ lead to 2-1. Despite surrendering that goal, Everblades goaltender Cam Johnson stopped 11 of 12 shots in the middle 20 minutes as the Blades’ one-goal advantage carried over into the third frame.
Just over four minutes into the final frame, Jesse Lansdell picked an opportune time to score his first goal of the season, extending the Everblades’ lead to 3-1 by converting a strike from heavy traffic in front of the Jacksonville goal. Senden picked up an assist for his third point of the game, while Maleek McGowan also notched his second assist, joining Lansdell for two-point nights.
Devon Paliani closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal with 1:17 to play to finish off the Everblades’ 4-1 win.
Stopping 25 of 26 shots, Johnson improved to 7-1 and became the first ECHL goaltender to post seven victories this season. Florida won the shot count 28-26.
BJORKLUND, STINGRAYS BLANK SOLAR BEARS 3-0
The South Carolina Stingrays swept the weekend series over the Orlando Solar Bears with a 3-0 shutout victory on Saturday night in front of 5,065 fans at the North Charleston Coliseum.
Garin Bjorklund earned his first shutout of the season and the fifth of his professional career, recording a season-high 29 saves on the night. The Stingrays continued to produce on special teams, scoring a power-play goal for the second straight game while killing off all four power-play chances for Orlando.
Tyler Weiss rang the crossbar midway through the first frame, but just seconds later the forward opened the scoring on his follow-up chance. The Raleigh, NC native flew into the Solar Bear zone and slid a wraparound past Orlando goaltender Ryan Bednard, giving the Stingrays the early lead.
“Yeah, I was just moving my feet and got a good shot there and hit the post,” Weiss said. “[Hall] gave me another good pass and I did the same thing. I moved my feet this time, came on the left side, saw the goalie bite, and thought I could beat him back on the other side.”
South Carolina had a power play that spilled into the second period, when Josh Wilkins cashed in at the doorstep to extend the Stingray lead to two. The physicality and penalties continued into the second with the teams totaling nine infractions in the middle frame, including six in just seven minutes.
The Solar Bears had four opportunities on the power play in the second period, but the South Carolina penalty kill kept the Orlando power-play unit off the scoreboard, as the Stingrays carried a 2-0 lead into the final period.
“You just have to stay disciplined and let them take the penalties and capitalize when you get a power play,” Weiss said.
Five minutes into the third, the Solar Bears had a pair of quality looks on net, both of which were turned away by Bjorklund. The Solar Bears emptied the net with just under three minutes remaining, but the Stingrays forced their way into the Orlando end, with Luke Prokop putting away the game-sealing goal with 1:48 remaining, capping the 3-0 win for the Stingrays.
