Gladiators drop first ever meeting with Ghost Pirates

DULUTH, Ga.- The Atlanta Gladiators (1-2-0-0) dropped their first ever matchup against the Savannah Ghost Pirates (2-0-0-0) on Sunday afternoon at Gas South Arena by a score of 4-1. Darion Hanson stood tall in net for Savannah and stopped 46 of 47 Atlanta shots.

Savannah kicked off the rivalry with a goal just a minute into the first ever meeting between the two teams. Daniel D’Amato fired a harmless-looking shot from the blue line that deflected off of Pat Guay and over Atlanta goaltender Tyler Parks into the net (0:58).

Marcus Kallionkieli extended Savannah’s lead with his first goal of the season 15 minutes into the second period (14:18). Later in the third, Vincent Marleau buried a power-play goal from the low slot to put the Ghost Pirates ahead 3-0 (6:21).

In the middle of the second, Savannah’s Brandon Pedersen was awarded a penalty shot and rang the puck off the left post after pulling the puck to his forehand (14:18).

Paul McAvoy broke Darion Hanson’s shutout bid in the third period with his first goal of the season (13:31). McAvoy collected a rebound from Kaid Oliver and went blocker side on Hanson.

Max Kaufman finished the scoring with a late tally to make it 4-1 (15:41).

Hanson finished the game with 46 saves on 47 shots for Savannah while Parks suffered his first defeat of the season with 31 saves on 35 shots.