NORFOLK, VA – Alex Aleardi registered two goals and two assists, five other teammates found the back of the net and the Florida Everblades scored a season-high seven goals en route to a dominant 7-3 victory over the Norfolk Admirals Friday night at Scope Arena. With a second-straight victory in Virginia, the Everblades improved to 8-0-2-1 on the road in 2021-22 and 10-6-2-3 overall this season. 
The Everblades attack was on point immediately from the opening faceoff, as the guys in gray scored early and often to claim a 3-0 lead in the first period. Aleardi got the scorefest started with his ninth goal of the year at the 6:10 mark. Kyle Neuber added his second of the season at the 12:11 mark and Levko Koper collected his fourth of the campaign at 13:58 to close out the first-period scoring.
The teams alternated the first four goals of a busy second period, but the Everblades immediately answered both Norfolk strikes with a quick goal of their own. Norfolk’s Marly Quince scored his first goal of the season at the 2:43 mark to shave the Everblades’ lead to 3-1, but Xavier Bouchard extended the Everblades’ lead to 4-1 at the 7:30 mark with his third of the season.
Just over a minute later, Quince scored his second goal of the game, a power-play tally, cutting the Florida lead to 4-2 at 8:33. Yet again, the Everblades bounced right back, as Jake Jaremko’s sixth marker of the campaign, a power-play score, restored the lead to three goals, 5-2 at 9:33 of the second frame.
Tired of trading goals, on the power-play, Joe Pendenza fired off his eighth goal of the season to give the Everblades a four-goal lead, 6-2, at 16:27 of the second, a lead that the visitors would take into the second intermission.
The red-hot Aleardi struck for the second time of the game and 10th time this season at 7:54 of the third frame to expand the Everblades’ lead to 7-2. For Norfolk, Quince finished off the hat trick midway through the final frame, as the Florida lead was trimmed to 7-3 as the scoring came to a halt.
Nine different Everblades were credited with assists in the contest, with Pendenza, Aleardi, Koper and Ben Masella each registering two helpers. Aleardi posted the first four-point game of the season by an Everblade, while Pendenza and Koper hit the three-point milestone for the first time this year.
Tomas Vomacka earned the win in goal for Florida, recording 26 saves and improving to 3-2-1-0 on the year. The victorious Everblades outshot Norfolk 29-28. The Everblades and Admirals will finish off their three-game Saturday night at Scope Arena, with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:30 p.m.
The next home game for the Blades will take place on Wednesday, December 15th as the Atlanta Gladiators skate into Hertz Arena for a 7:30 p.m. tilt.
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