NORTH CHARLESTON, SC — Tom McCollum made 24 saves, and Justin Auger scored the only goal of the game to push the Florida Everblades to a 1-0 win over the South Carolina Stingrays on Friday night at North Charleston Coliseum.
In Florida’s first road game against South Carolina this season, the Everblades (20-8-2-2, 44 points) scored halfway through the second period and withstood two penalty kills in the third period to hand the Stingrays (23-3-3-1, 50 points) their first regulation loss since November 19th.
After more than 30 minutes of scoreless play, Justin Auger put the Everblades on the board with his 13th goal of the season. Defenseman Nick Schaus picked up a loose puck in the slot and dished to the back post for Hunter Garlent. South Carolina goaltender Logan Thompson stopped Garlent’s shot and then Blake Winiecki’s follow-up try, but Auger stepped in and slammed in the rebound to give the Everblades a 1-0 lead.
South Carolina had a trio of close calls in the third period, but McCollum and the Everblades stood tall. Stingrays defenseman Jaynen Rissling rang the right post in the waning seconds of South Carolina’s power play in the last five minutes in the third, and Mark Cooper clanged an even-strength shot off the iron shortly thereafter.
Mitch Vanderlaan had the last high-quality opportunity of the third, as he escaped to the left circle on a zone rush and fired a shot upstairs on McCollum. With McCollum down and the puck loose in the crease, he managed to reach back and smother it to preserve the win and shutout.
Blades Bites: Florida’s shutout victory was its third of the season, and all three have come from different netminders… McCollum pitched his 15th career pro shutout and fourth of his ECHL career… McCollum has stopped 47 of the 48 shots he has faced in his two appearances with the Everblades this season… Before being shut out on Friday, South Carolina had not scored less than two goals in any of its 29 games this season… Justin Auger is now tied for the team lead with 13 goals… Florida snapped South Carolina’s 16-game point streak (12-0-3-1) with the regulation win.
Next Up: lorida concludes the two-game series with South Carolina with a 6:05 p.m. ET matchup on Saturday at North Charleston Coliseum.
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