GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits won their first ever meeting against the Allen Americans by a 4-1 margin on Thursday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The Rabbits improved to 3-0-0-0 on Thursday’s, and Ryan Bednard stopped 42 of 43 shots in net. 
In the first period, Greenville grabbed an early advantage at 5:14 of the opening frame. Matt Bradley jammed home the rebound of a Patrick Bajkov drive to the net to put the Swamp Rabbits up 1-0. Shots after the opening period were 13-5 in favor of the Americans.
In the middle frame, Allen equalized the contest at 6:09 courtesy of Corey Mackin’s 11th goal of the campaign. Samuel Laberge won a puck battle along the end wall and centered a pass into Mackin’s wheelhouse between the faceoff circles.
The Swamp Rabbits regained the upper hand on the power play from Greg Meireles at 15:37. Meireles went coast to coast and fired a shot over the glove of Americans netminder Justin Kapelmaster. Greenville finished the night 1-for-5 on the man-advantage and a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Greenville extended the margin with a third period shorthanded tally from Joey Haddad. Haddad put away a lively rebound off the end wall into Kapelmaster’s vacant cage to give the Swamp Rabbits a 3-1 lead.
Allen pulled Kapelmaster for the 6-on-5 advantage in the final minutes, and Jake Massie converted at 19:41 to finalize the 4-1 scoring line. Samuel Jardine finished with two helpers on the night and Bednard set a new career-high with 42 saves.
The Swamp Rabbits continue their three-game set with Allen Friday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.