NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – The South Carolina Stingrays struggled big time in December. They went into their annual New Year’s Eve game having lost and being shutout in three straight games. They had a record of 2-8 for the month. The month and year ended with their ninth loss on New Year’s Eve 6-3 to the Florida EverBlades. A crowd of 3,843 fans at the North Charleston Coliseum could draw some comfort from the fact the ‘Rays finally scored even though they lost. The fourth straight loss gave the ‘Rays a record of 15-15-2 and 32 points. They occupy last place in the South Division of the ECHL Eastern Conference as they enter 2012.
On Saturday night the ‘Blades (18-13-2)38 points jumped out to a 2-0 lead on first period goals by Matt Becca and Rylan Galiardi. The goal by Galiardi came on a power play. Becca’s goal drew helpers from Scott Pitt and David Rutherford while Leigh Salters and David Rutherford chipped in on Galiardi’s strike.
Florida extended the lead to 4-0 in the second period first with a goal at 16:55 by Kyle Lawson followed closely by another strike at 17:58 by Kory Falite. Mathieu Roy and former ‘Rays’ forward Trevor Bruess assisted on Lawson’s goal while Salters picked up his second assist in the game on Florida’s fourth goal. Salters would score later on a power for Florida early in the third period on his way to a three point night.
Finally for forward Maxime Lacroix who just returned from a long stint with the Hershey Bears broke the long Stingrays’ scoring drought at 19:00 of the second stanza. As mentioned the Rays had lost their previous three games on shutouts. They had been held scoreless for 219 minutes in that span of games before Lacroix who had 33 goals in the 2009 Kelly Cup win by South Carolina scored. His tally was assisted by David de Kastrozza and Johan Kroll. The second period ended 4-1.
In the final stanza Florida got the aforementioned Salters’ (Rutherford, Fisher) goal at 3:02 and Scott Pitt (Fischer again) hammered home another goal for the EverBlades at 14:02. The Florida goals came before and between two goals for South Carolina that narrowed the margin of victory for Florida to 6-3. Joe Pereira (Dustin Stevenson, Matt Scherer) and Pierre-Luc O’Brien (Derek Keller, Trent Campbell) potted the two final period goals for the ‘Rays.
Philipp Grubauer absorbed the loss in net for South Carolina as he saw 32 shots on goal while winning net minder Pat Nagle stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced. The Rays who have struggled on the power play all season went 0-4 with the man advantage while Florida scored two power play goals on six opportunities.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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