GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits came from two goals behind on Friday night to sneak past the Florida Everblades 4-3 in the opener of a three-game series at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
The Everblades went onto the power-play just 40 seconds into the game and took full advantage with a Nathan Perkovich unassisted goal along the crease at 1:01. Anthony Rinaldi put Greenville on the board 5:36 into the game with help from Austin Eastman and Ayden MacDonald. With 2:25 on the clock, Peterson lit the lamp for the fourth time in as many games with a power-play tally to push the Everblades in front 2-1 at the first intermission.
Joe Pendenza struck gold for the lone goal of the second period, cashing in on a shorthanded breakaway at the 3:08 mark. The Everblades retained the 3-1 advantage after two full periods while owning a 22-21 edge in shots on net.
Greenville took over in the third period with a pair of goals from Nikita Pavylchev (4:41 and 15:19) before Brett Kemp netted the game winner for the Swamp Rabbits with 1:42 to go in the game. The shocking result saw the Everblades move to 21-12-3-3 this season as Greenville’s win improved their record to 12-15-3-3.
The Everblades and Swamp Rabbits will play the middle game of their 3-in-3 series tomorrow night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and the game will be covered on FloHockey.TV as well as ESPN Southwest Florida on 770 AM, 98.1 FM, 104.3 FM and online at https://espnswfl.com.
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.