Gladiators use two goal second, solid goaltending to defeat Cyclones

CINCINNATI, OH – A two goal period and exceptional play in net by Kevin Mandolese helped guide the Atlanta Gladiators to a 4-2 win over the Cincinnati Cyclones Wednesday night inside Heritage Bank Center.

Cincinnati fell to 23-18-2-0 on the season, while the Gladiators picked up their 9th win in their last 11 outings.

Both teams exchanged first period goals, with Atlanta’s Sanghoon Shin netting the first goal by a Korean-born player in ECHL history, beating Cyclones goaltender Mat Robson 5:36 into the game. The Cyclones responded exactly eight minutes later when Louie Caporusso got into the zone and chased a rebound, sliding it to the right circle for a Lincoln Griffin one-timer, giving Griffin his 15th goal of the season.

“It’s been awesome here,” Griffin said about his continued success with the Cyclones. “I got a fortunate bounce here and Coach Payne gave me the opportunity to come play. I couldn’t get these goals without my teammates, so all the credit goes to them, but I don’t really care about the goal tonight. I care about the loss. We’ll go over film and see what we can do about it.”

Atlanta took a two goal lead into the third period after goals from Xavier Bernard and Elijah Vilio. Bernard’s goal came on the power play with Josh Burnside in the box for hooking. It was the first professional goal for Bernard. 12:26 into the frame, Vilio took a perimeter shot from the left wing wall and surprised Robson as it snuck in and out of the goal.

Dalton Thrower gave Atlanta its biggest lead of the night 12:20 into the third period. His right point drive buckled off the shoulder of Robson and trickled in behind the goaltender for the 4-1 Gladiators lead.

Cincinnati continued to find success on the power play with over five minutes to play. Zack Andrusiak slammed a one-timer by Mandolese after getting set-up and fed across from Jesse Schultz to make it 4-2. The Cyclones now have six power play goals over their last six games.

Caporusso and Schultz were both able to extend their current point streaks to six games. Justin Vaive celebrated a milestone, skating in his 600th professional game.