NORTH CHARLESTON, SC-The South Carolina Stingrays 32-22-4 (68 points) were outskated by the visiting Gwinnet Gladiators 26-25-7 (59 points) 3-1 in Tuesday night’s only ECHL matchup. The Gladiators and ‘Rays played the game before a crowd of 1,583 at the North Charleston Coliseum. South Carolina went into the game undefeated in four straight contests.
The two teams failed to score in a free-wheeling back and forth first period as they combined for 26 shots in the period. Gladiator rookie goal tender Edward Pasquale turned aside all 14 of the shots he faced in the period. Overall he was hammered with 37 shots in the game and was the difference for the visitors. He picked up the game’s number one star with his winning performance.
‘Rays’ coach Cal MacLean said after the game that “Pasquale played well and we needed to do more to beat him.” Pasquale has divided his time between Gwinnett and the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League this season.
The home team clamped down big time in the second and third periods limiting Gwinnett to just five shots in period two and six shots in period three but in turn could not solve Pasquale until Nikita Kashirsky who returned to the lineup tonight from the injured reserve list got late third period goal.
His goal came too late as two Stingrays’ mistakes in period two gave the Gladiators the entire margin they needed as they lit the lamp twice in the middle stanza. In what was a frustrating night South Carolina outshot the visitors by a wide 37 to 25 margin and played excellent defense especially in the last two periods but the two mistakes sealed their fate.
First forward Danick Paquette slipped around the home team’s defense just over four minutes into the second period. He beat losing goaltender Shane Owen (6-3-1-1) one on one to the glove side with a hard wrist shot. Paquette now has 13 goals on the season. His marker came on assists from forward John-Scott Dickson and defenseman Paul Flache.
A second mistake this time at 11:48 provided the game winner as the Gladiators got a short-handed strike from Michael Forney. The 6’2” Thief River Falls, Minnesota native and rookie played his junior hockey with the Des Moines Buccaneers and Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League. Forney’s 15th of the year drew helpers from Andy Brandt and defenseman Sam Roberts.
Former Stingrays’ forward and Charleston Riverdogs baseball player Justin Milo added an insurance goal for Gwinnett with a score midway in the last period. Another former USHL product Milo played 12 games for South Carolina earlier this season. Flache and Brandt picked up their second assists of the night on the power play marker at 11:15 of the period.
Kashirsky finally got the puck past Pasquale with just a minute and 26 seconds left in regulation time. The Moscow native who returned to the lineup tonight after a long stint on the injured reserve list fired a hard shot from the top of the circle beating the Toronto, Ontario native to his blocker side. It was the Russian’s ninth of the season. Trent Campbell and defenseman Dustin Stevenson picked up the primary and secondary assists on the lone South Carolina goal.
<:u1:p>The Stingrays travel to Florida for two games on Friday and Saturday in big inter-division clashes against the EverBlades. The ‘Rays beat Florida twice last weekend here in the low country.
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