ESTERO, Fla. – Cole Moberg scored two goals and the Florida Everblades battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game in both the second and third periods, but the Jacksonville Icemen came away with a 5-3 victory in front of a spirited Hawaiian Night crowd of 6,612 fans Friday night at Hertz Arena.
In a game featuring two squads that entered play with a combined record of 52-10-6-0 when scoring first, it was visiting Jacksonville that jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period. Matheson Iacopelli, the Icemen’s leading goal scorer, got the scoring started at the 6:21 mark, while Logan Cockerill followed with a tally at 12:04.
The Everblades came out firing in the middle period, striking for two quick goals in the first 89 seconds to knot the score at 2-2. Defenseman Moberg buried a feed from Cam Darcy in the slot to get the Blades on the board at the 1:22 mark, while Joe Pendenza notched his team-leading 25th goal of the year just seven seconds later to tie the score. Josh Ho-Sang fed the Blades captain who blasted home the puck from the Jacksonville doorstep, with Oliver Chau also earning his 29th assist.
Jacksonville would regain the lead at 16:08, as Luc Brown scored in the final eight seconds of a power play to give the visitors a 3-2 lead heading into the second intermission.
The teams traded goals in the early stages of the third period. Moberg’s second goal of the contest, with Ho-Sang picking up his second helper of the contest at 5:42, drew the Everblades even at 3-3, but Riley Fiddler-Schultz pulled the Icemen back on top 4-3 at the 7:12 mark. Jacksonville’s Chris Grando closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal with 39.1 seconds to play.
Florida outshot Jacksonville 35-33, including a 15-7 edge in the second period, in an game which featured two of the ECHL’s top goaltenders. Cam Johnson (22-14-4-2) registered 28 saves for the Everblades, while Matt Vernon (24-6-2-0) turned aside 32 shots for the Icemen.
The Everblades have seven games remaining in the regular season and will meet the Icemen for the final time before a potential Kelly Cup playoff series on Saturday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m. Saturday night’s contest is part of Marvel Superhero Night with a pregame tailgate party featuring live music and bounce houses, along with specialty Miles Morales jerseys that will be available via auction on the Dash Auction app. Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets.
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