JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In search of a fourth-straight win, the Florida Everblades faced a tall order in the form of their season-long nemesis, the Jacksonville Icemen, but came up on the short end of a 4-2 decision Friday night at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Jacksonville controlled the tempo throughout opening period, outshooting the Everblades 12-9 and taking a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of action. Noah Laaouan opened the scoring at the 8:11 mark, while Derek Lodermeier pushed in a rebound at 19:03 to put the Blades in an early two-goal hole.
The squads traded second-period goals with Florida striking first just three minutes into the stanza to trim Jacksonville’s lead to 2-1. Logan Lambdin scored for the second straight game, collecting his 14th goal of the season off an initial shot by Bobo Carpenter, while Cam Darcy added the secondary assist.
Despite outshooting Jacksonville by a dominant 11-3 count in the middle frame, the Icemen regained the two-goal lead late in the period on Brendon Harris’ 19th goal of the season which put the hosts ahead 3-1 with just over two minutes left in the frame.
Just 2:41 into the third period with the Icemen on the power play, Mark Senden picked off an errant puck at the red line and powered through the Jacksonville defense for his 13th goal of the year. Senden’s second shorthanded strike of the campaign made it a 3-2 game.
With the Icemen enjoying an extended stretch of 6-on-5 hockey due to a delayed penalty on the Everblades, Jacksonville’s Luke Brown added an insurance goal, his 13th of the season, to pull ahead 4-2 with 2:19 to play.
The Everblades outshot the Icemen 29-21, with Evan Cormier (8-6-3-0) making 17 saves and suffering the setback in his return to the Florida lineup. Matt Vernon (21-6-2-0) posted 27 saves and earned the win for host Jacksonville.
The Everblades have two more contests remaining on the current four-game road trip. Next up is a trip to North Charleston to face the South Carolina Stingrays on Saturday, March 16 at 6:05 p.m. and complete a suspended game from December 23. The road trip ends with the first of back-to-back Monday tilts in Orlando against the Solar Bears on March 18 at 7:00 p.m. The Blades will return to action at action at Hertz Arena on Wednesday, March 20 versus the Savannah Ghost Pirates at 7:30 p.m. Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets.
With Everblades match report
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