DULUTH, GA – Michael Kirkpatrick and Levko Koper both scored a goal while Daniel Altshuller stopped 24 of the 25-shots he faced to lead the Florida Everblades (7-0-1-0, 15 pts) to a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Gladiators (5-5-1-1, 12 pts) on Tuesday night at the Infinite Energy Arena. The result allows the Everblades to remain as the sole leader in the ECHL’s South Division.
Opening the night’s scoring, the Florida Everblades took their first lead of the game midway through the first period off a nice effort from Michael Kirkpatrick. Getting the puck out of their own zone, Zack Kamrass fired a pass from his own blue line down the ice to a streaking Kirkpatrick. Heading into the right wing circle, Kirkpatrick hurled the puck past Atlanta goaltender Matt Ginn and into the top corner of the net.
Heading into the second period, both the Everblades and Gladiators looked for a momentum building goal. Finding it about seven minutes into the middle frame, the ‘Blades took a commanding 2-0 lead off a great team goal. Getting into the zone, Alexander Kuqali sent the puck across to Matt Mackenzie. Firing a shot from the top of the zone, Mackenzie’s shot was tipped in front by Levko Koper to double the Everblades lead.
Both teams would continue to see some goal scoring opportunities for the remainder of the period. However, a combination of missed chances and stellar saves from ‘Blades goaltender Daniel Altshuller and Atlanta netminder Matt Ginn saw the teams finish off the middle frame without any more scoring.
Throughout much of the third period, Atlanta peppered the Everblades with plenty of hits and quality shots. Looking for a game-changing goal, the Gladiators threw everything they had at the ‘Blades. Shorthanded, the puck took a Gladiators’ bounce to send them on a 2-on-1 break. Cruising in, Justin Buzzeo went in alone, firing the puck top shelf to cut the Everblades lead in half.
Killing off their penalty with a little under 30-seconds remaining in the contest, the Gladiators looked for the game-tying goal. Pulling the goaltender to gain an extra attacker, Atlanta saw a couple chances be missed in the dying seconds of the contest, resulting in the Everblades taking an extremely close 2-1 victory.
Daniel Altshuller was outstanding throughout for the ‘Blades as he just missed out on the shutout after stopping 24 of the 25-shots he faced. Matt Ginn was equally spectacular in goal for Atlanta but does suffer the loss after allowing two goals on 40-shots.
The Everblades continue on their week long road trip with another contest against the Gladiators this Friday night at the Infinite Energy Arena.
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