NORTH CHARLESTON, SC-The South Carolina Stingrays (17-14-1-1) were on their way to a quiet loss trailing the Gwinnett Gladiators (14-16-1-4) 2-1 late in the final period here Sunday afternoon. Gwinnett seemed to be in complete control until ‘Rays’ forward Samson Mahbod exploded for two late third period goals to tie and then win the game 3-2 for South Carolina at the North Charleston Coliseum.
Mahbod’s first goal came with 3:24 left on the game clock to tie the score 2-2. Less than two minutes later with only 1:12 left he left his feet to tap a pass past sprawling goal tender Chris Carrozzi for the game winner. The win came as a crowd of 1,861 watched veteran defenseman Nate Kiser skate in his 374th game as a member of the ‘Rays. Kiser is now third in all-time team history in the number of games played.
South Carolina took a 1-0 lead in the first period at the 10:27 mark when David de Kastrozza fired a wrist shot past Carrozzi on the goalie’s blocker side. He was set up on a nice give and go pass from defenseman Bryan Schmidt who ended up with a three point evening. The de Kastrozza goal his 11th of the season places him in the goal scoring lead for the ‘Rays.
The 1-0 score held up until the Gladiators got the only power play goal of the night at 13:55 of the second stanza. Forward Michael Forney beat winning goal tender Jared DeMichiel cleanly carrying the puck over the blue line and hammering a slap shot from the top of the far side circle to that got all net. Andy Brandt and Tim Miller set up Forney’s sixth goal of the season. The teams’ ended period one tied at 1-1.
The tie was broken by Gwinnett on an early third period strike at 1:41 by forward Aaron Bendickson. One of the ‘Rays’ defensemen got in a little deep in the Gladiators’ zone and Gwinnet capitalized. They forced a two on one rush up ice and defenseman Paul Flashe slid the puck over to Bendickson who drove it past DeMichiel for a 2-1 Gladiators’ lead. This goal looked to be the game winner until Mahbod took over.
Mahbod got the ‘Rays’ back in the game with a quick snapper from in close at 16:36 to forge a 2-2 tie. Less than two minutes later Tommy Goebel walked in and appeared open to shoot but slid the puck to the left side of the net. Mahbod out of Montreal in his first pro season left his feet to dive for the puck and with his stick extended redirected the puck past goalie Carrozzi and into the net for the 3-2 game winner. Defenseman Bryan Schmidt and forward Rob Ricci picked up assists on Mahbod’s first score while Goebel and Schmidt got assists on the game winner. Schmidt’s had three assists in the game.
Referee Curtis Marouelli whistled a total of just five penalties in the game. Gwinnet went one of three of the power play while South Carolina failed on their only power play opportunity. The other penalty came as time expired and thus didn’t produce a power play chance. Each team had 33 shots on goal in the game. DeMichiel has now won his last five starts in goal for South Carolina.
The Stingrays and Gladiators face off again on Tuesday, January 4 at 7:05 p.m. at the North Charleston Coliseum.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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