JACKSONVILLE, FL – Michael Kirkpatrick and Mitchell Heard each finished with a goal and an assist to pace the Florida Everblades to a 4-2 win over the Jacksonville Icemen at Veterans Memorial Arena Friday evening. With the win, the Everblades set a new club record for points in a season with 110 points.
For the second time in as many nights, the Everblades fired the first warning shot at 1:03 into contest, as Sam Warning scored his second goal as an Everblade. Warning caught the puck at the right wing circle, and made one deke move to freeze Icemen netminder Austin Lotz. Warning then toe-dragged around the stationary goalie and shoved the puck into the net for the goal
The Icemen countered at the eight-minute mark when Tanner Eberle delivered a shot from the slot that clipped off the blocker of Florida goaltender Josh Robinson and into the net to tie the game at one.
Less than five minutes later, Jacksonville grabbed the lead. Tim Daly delivered a shot from the left wing boards, but the rebound bounced to a wide open Cody Fowlie on the backside of the crease. Fowlie jammed the puck home to give the Icemen a 2-1 edge after the first period.
Steven Lorentz evened the score at two, when his slapshot from the point floated through middle traffic and into the back of the net for his 12th goal of the season.
Nearly two minutes later, Kirkpatrick reclaimed the lead for Florida. Heard delivered a stretch pass to Kirkpatrick who carried the puck into the zone. Kirkpatrick used some creativity to shake off the defender shadowing him, as he slowed down and made a half turn move to get the defender to slow as well The move worked as Kirkpatrick turned his attention back to the net and cut to the low circle and delivered wrister past Lotz for the go-ahead marker. The Everblades took the 3-2 advantage into the second break.
In the third Jacksonville forward Everett Clark was assessed an instigating penalty for fighting Florida’s Spencer Smallman. The additional penalty put the Everblades on the power play and Heard delivered a shot from the right wing circle that curled into the top corner of the net to extend the lead by two.
Florida locked down the rest of the game to preserve the 4-2 victory. Robinson earned the win in goal for Florida in his first game in nearly a year. Robinson, the team’s goaltending coach this season, filled in admirably in goal on the night, making 19 saves on 21 shots faced. Lotz took the loss allowing four goals on 29 shots.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday at Germain Arena to close out the regular season. Game time is set for 7 p.m. The game is Fan Appreciation Night as well as Blackout Night presented by the Passion Foundation.
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