SAVANNAH Ga. – One night after their seven-game winning streak came to an end, the Florida Everblades got right back in the win column with a 4-2 victory over the Savannah Ghost Pirates Saturday night in Enmarket Arena. A season-high 37-save effort from goaltender Will Cranley, a two-goal performance by Tarun Fizer and a two-point night from Anthony Romano headlined a strong team performance.
A busy first period saw the South Division rivals tied at 1-1 after 20 minutes of play, while combining for 30 shots on goal in the process. Following a couple of early dustups, the Florida defensive corps survived a 4-on-3 disadvantage in the first seven minutes of play.
After an injury forced Savannah starting goaltender Michael Simpson to exit the contest midway through the opening frame, business picked up for both sides late in the period. With just over six minutes to play, Zach Berzolla came up empty on a breakaway, but a minute later, Craig Needham went five-hole, burying a pass from Oliver Chau to open the scoring at the 15:21 mark. Romano added an assist on Needham’s sixth goal of the year, extending his point streak to three games.
Unfortunately, the Everblades’ 1-0 lead would be short-lived, as Savannah’s Riley Hughes knotted the game at 1-1 with his sixth goal of the year with 1:13 left before the first intermission. Cranley turned aside 16 of 17 shots in the opening frame. Savannah held a 17-13 edge in shots on goal.
The second period belonged to Florida. Romano continued his sizzling play early in the stanza, potting the Everblades’ fifth shorthanded goal of the season on a breakaway that gave the good guys a 2-1 lead at the 2:38 mark. The unassisted tally was Romano’s ninth goal of the campaign.
Florida’s special teams continued to shine as Fizer struck on the power play to extend the Everblades’ lead to 3-1 at 6:04. Berzolla and Jesse Lansdell earned the assists, as Fizer potted a carom off the back wall for his sixth of the year. But just nine seconds after Florida’s Oliver Cooper and Savannah’s Cole Krygier went off for fighting majors at 10:26, Ghost Pirate Josh Davies trimmed the Blades’ lead to 3-2, with his fifth goal of the year at 10:35. Florida doubled up Savannah in the second-period shot department 16-8
The Everblades got some much-needed insurance early in the third period, as Fizer struck for the second time at 5:36, gobbling up a loose puck on neutral ice, slipping behind the Savannah defense and restoring the Everblades’ two-goal lead at 4-2 with his seventh goal of the season.
Savannah pulled backup netminder Vinnie Purpura with more than three minutes to play, but neither team managed to tack on another goal. Savannah applied significant pressure to outshoot the Blades 13-7 in the final period and won the overall shots on goal battle 39-36.