DULUTH, GA – Nelson Armstrong, Clark Seymour, and Joe Cox each scored a goal to help lead the Florida Everblades to a 5-1 victory over the rival Atlanta Gladiators Saturday night at the Infinite Energy Arena. With the win, the Everblades (4-0-0-0, 8 points) have now won each of their first four games this season.
Weathering an early storm from the Gladiators, the Everblades opened the scoring in the contest. Taking advantage of a power play opportunity, the Florida special teams continued their red hot start as they made it four straight games with a power play goal to give the Everblades a 1-0 lead late in the first period.
Nelson Armstrong corralled a pass from Gus Young along the right wing side. From the top of the circle, Armstrong ripped a low shot through traffic and past the outstretched pad of Atlanta goaltender Matt Ginn.
The Everblades stuck again on the power play to take a 2-0 lead midway through the second period. Mitchell Heard cycled the puck to a waiting Clark Seymour. Seymour uncorked a rocket of a shot from the blueline that blasted right through traffic and into the top corner of the net.
However, the two-goal lead did not last long as the Gladiators quickly made it a 2-1 game thanks to a nice hustle play by Lindsay Sparks in the Florida zone. Form the corner, Sparks managed to come up with the puck before throwing a pass across the face of the goal. Thomas Frazee met the puck and quickly ripped his point blank chance past Everblades goaltender Callum Booth.
Florida re-established their two-goal lead just over a minute later, as Heard and Cox took advantage of a quick developing play to give the Everblades a 3-1 lead. After creating a neutral zone turnover, Heard brought the puck low into the attacking zone before flipping a perfect pass across to Cox. Showing great patience, Cox methodically buried the puck into the back of the net.
In the third, the Everblades continued to control the game through a strong defensive effort. Despite being shorthanded three separate times during the final frame, the Everblades penalty kill would not break, keeping Atlanta off the scoreboard. The Everblades finished off any threat of a comeback when Zack Kamrass buried an empty-net goal to put the ‘Blades up by a score of 4-1.
Despite having the game firmly in hand, Florida did not back down. The Everblades netted their fifth goal of the game just 20-seconds later when Matt Berry buried a pretty pass from Nolan Laporte behind Atlanta goaltender Ginn.
Booth continued the Everblades hot start between the pipes, earning the win after stopping all but one of the 28 shots he faced. Ginn was once again solid between the pipes for Atlanta but suffers the loss after allowing four goals on 31 shots.
The Florida Everblades will now return home to begin a three-game home stand against the visiting Indy Fuel this Wednesday night at Germain Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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