WHEELING , WV . – The Florida Everblades split a pair with the Wheeling Nailers at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena this weekend.
Friday night’s game (3/9/12) was a defensive battle ground for both teams. For two periods, the teams battled back-and-forth, shot-for-shot, with no one finding the back of the opposing teams net.
The only goal of the game came in the final period as Wheeling’s Paul Crowder found the puck in front of the Florida net. A quick shot gave his team their only tally and the lead. The rest of the period was scoreless with Wheeling shutting out the Blades by a final score of 1-0.
Saturday night’s game (3/10/12) was quite a bit more exciting for the visiting team. The game had a very different flavor. Whereas the previous night saw no goals scored for over 2 ½ periods of play, tonight’s game saw four combined goals scored in the first period of play.
Wheeling opened the scoring with a goal at 5:22 by Chris Barton. Florida’s Matt Becca picked up a breakaway and his shot was stopped by Wheeling’s net minder, Peter Dumas. The rebound was picked up by Cedric McNicol,l who scored to tie the game at 1-1.
Wheeling ’s Zach Hanson gave his team the lead again less than a minute later. Five minutes later Florida evened the score once again with a power play tally by Mathieu Roy. At the end of one, the score was tied at 2-2. Florida outshot Wheeling 22-9 in the opening frame.
Florida had their first lead when David Rutherford scored on the power play at 6:29 of the second period. Shortly thereafter, the Blades increased their lead to 4-2 as Mathieu Roy scored his second power play goal of the night.
Wheeling was done with their scoring for the evening. Florida added an insurance goal by Scott Pitt in the third period. Florida wins 5-2.
Florida is tied for the eighth position in the ECHL Eastern Conference.
The Everblades travel next to Trenton, New Jersey to take on the Titans on Sunday at 4pm.
Contact the writer: sharon.weatherhead@prohockeynews.com
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