ESTERO, Fla. – Third-period goals by Anthony Romano and Kyle Betts forced overtime, but the Florida Everblades had to settle for just one point in the league standings, as the Fort Wayne Komets posted a 4-3 shootout victory in front of a sold out Military Night crowd of 7,378 enthusiastic fans Saturday at Hertz Arena.
Early action saw both teams score quick goals, with Fort Wayne lighting the lamp first on an unlikely tally by Josh Groll just 2:35 after the opening draw. Groll’s shot from close range was stopped cleanly by Everblades goaltender Cam Johnson, but the rebound bounced off a Florida player into the net for a 1-0 Komets’ lead.
The good guys responded less than a minute later on Craig Needham’s second goal of the season from the doorstep, with Reid Duke and Kade Landry picking up the helpers, tying the game at 1-1 at the 3:32 mark.
Unfortunately for the packed house, Groll added his second goal of the opening frame at 11:30, with former Everblade Alex Aleardi registering the assist. Johnson kept things close in goal for the Everblades, making four stops from point-blank range in the final minute as the visitors took their 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Florida held a 9-7 advantage in shots after 20 minutes.
A relatively quiet second period saw Fort Wayne pad its lead to 3-1 on a goal by Aleardi midway through the frame. Florida claimed a slim 5-4 edge in the shot department over the middle stanza.
Then the comeback was on.
Five minutes into the third period, Florida pulled within one as Sean Allen took a puck in the defensive end and fed Romano who skated halfway down the ice and blasted home for his second goal of the season, trimming Fort Wayne’s lead to 3-2.
Roughly four minutes later, at the 9:26 mark, Betts followed with the equalizer, poking home a power-play goal from down low that tied the game at 3-3. Carson Gicewicz and Jett Jones notched the assists.
Johnson turned aside 10 Fort Wayne shots in a perfect final frame and the Everblades applied heavy pressure in the closing minutes of regulation, but could not score, sending the contest into overtime.
A wide-open seven-minute, three-on-three extra session provided no relief as both teams found themselves heading to a shootout for the first time this season. Both teams logged 23 shots on goal over 67 minutes of action.
In the shootout, both teams missed their first two attempts, but the third round proved to be the difference, as Fort Wayne’s James Stefan registered the only goal, giving the visiting Komets a 4-3 victory as the Everblades had to settle for just one point in the rubber match of the three-game set.
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