NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – The Florida Everblades (15-5-0-1) outscored South Carolina Stingrays (9-6-4-0) 5-2 on Friday night at the North Charleston Coliseum. Florida goaltender Devin Cooley backstopped the Everblades to a strong team win with 31 saves on 33 shots.
FIRST STAR: Devin Cooley – 31 saves
SECOND STAR:Â Dan DeSalvo – 1 goal, 1 assist
THIRD STAR: John McCarron – 1 goal, 1 assist
Late in the first period, Michael Huntebrinker continued his hot streak with his 12th goal of the season. The play began when Joe Pendenza was able to tap the puck away from a Stingray to Huntebrinker, who took it the length of the ice to the back of the net at the 18:57 mark.
On the power play, Everblades captain John McCarron slipped the puck past South Carolina goaltender Sean Bonar to put the Everblades up 2-0 early in the second period at 47 seconds. The Everblades further extended their lead to 3-0 off of a tally from forward Blake Winiecki, who gathered the puck off of a rebound and snapped a short-range shot at 11:04.
A power-play goal from Stingray forward Cameron Askew put South Carolina on the scoreboard in the second period 16:26 into the period. Less than 30 seconds later, South Carolina diminished Florida’s lead further with another power-play tally from Stingray forward Dan DeSalvo at 16:50.
At the 4:43 mark in the third period, Everblades forward Luke Nogard centered the puck to Levko Koper, who buried a one-time shot to make the score 4-2.
With less than a minute left in the period, Pendenza scored an empty net goal to seal the game at 5-2 at 19:09.
The two teams will complete their three-game set Saturday night starting at 6:05 p.m. in North Charleston.
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