ESTERO, FL – The Gwinnett Gladiators decided to make the most of home ice tonight and beat the Florida Everblades 3-2 in overtime at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. The excitement of the home win had the Gladiators bench celebrating and the fans cheering.
The Everblades won game two in overtime and Gwinnett took the opportunity to return the favor. Although Florida out shot Gwinnett 49-30, the Gladiators were able to pull off a critical series win. Even with the loss Florida still leads 2-1 in the first round series.
An early goal by Gwinnett’s Dirk Southern at 17: 44 of the first period kept the Gladiators in the lead until the beginning of the third period.
The second period was fast and furious, but remained scoreless going into the locker room. The Gladiators were able to hold off the barrage of Blades shots with an outstanding demonstration of skills by their netminder, Josh Johnson.
Florida was not able to find the back of Johnson’s net until the third period, when they tied the game at 1-1 with a goal by Mark Lee at 2:53. Assists were earned by Doug O’Brien and Ross Carlson. Gwinnett’s Andy Brandt changed the pace of the match by scoring on Florida’s David Leggio at 5:59 of the period. Brandt poked the puck into the net, putting Gwinnett ahead again by one.
In a thrilling final minu te of the third, Florida pulled netminder David Leggio allowing them to have six attackers on the ice. Florida’s Peter Metcalf scored at 19:12, with help from Yannick Tifu and Kevin Baker, to tie the game at 2-2 sending the third match-up of the series into overtime.
Florida was the aggressor in the overtime period as they once again out shot the Gladiators 10-3. The winning goal, an exciting breakaway shot, was scored by Gwinnett’s Tom Zanoski at 12:59 of the overtime period. Zanoski has scored 6 points in 3 games against Florida in this series.
In a somewhat unexpected move, Gwinnett’s goaltender, Josh Johnson, pulled himself from the net at 6:45 of the overtime period. Joe Fallon took to the net and actually got the win, even though he only played 6:15 and stopped just four shots. (J ohnson played for 66:45).
Florida was 1/6 on the power play; Gwinnett was 0/4 on the power play.
Game four is set for Friday, April 17 at 7:35 p.m. in Game 4 of the South Division semi-finals at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.
Contact the author at: sharon.weatherhead@prohockeynews.com
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