GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits skated to a 5-4 overtime victory over the Jacksonville Icemen on Saturday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Patrick Bajkov scored twice and Greg Meireles walked-off the contest with an overtime game-winner at 5:32 of sudden-death.
In the first period, Bajkov opened the scoring with a power move to the net at the 7:00 mark. Bajkov raced towards the Icemen cage and beat Jacksonville goaltender Charles Williams low to the ice.
The Icemen answered courtesy of Brendan Miller at the 12:05 mark. Miller fired a slapper from inside the left circle and beat Rabbits goaltender John Lethemon to tie the game at 1-1.
A back-and-forth period continued with Liam Pecararo converting 14 seconds later unassisted at 12:19. Before the first frame expired, Jacksonville found the equalizer on Trevor Hamilton’s second goal of the campaign at 15:41.
In the middle frame, Jacksonville tallied at 5:50 to grab their first and only lead of the night. Wacey Rabbit cleaned up a loose puck sitting in the low-slot to provide his club a 3-2 advantage.
At 10:03, Bajkov scored his second of the night and ninth of the campaign after burying a perfect cross-ice pass from David Broll. With the score even at 3-3 courtesy of Bajkov’s second, Garrett Thompson provided the Swamp Rabbits a late-period 4-3 edge. On the power play after Jason Binkley was flagged for slashing at 17:09, Thompson redirected a Bajkov feed from the low-slot past Williams at 18:14.
Late in the third period, Jacksonville tied the contest for a third time on a power play of their own. Jake Elmer finished a net-mouth scramble and deposited a loose puck past Lethemon at 16:14.
In sudden-death overtime, the Swamp Rabbits were granted a four-minute man-advantage with 3:39 left. On a transition, Pecararo raced up the left-wing and fed across to an open Meireles. For his seventh goal of the season, Meireles kicked the puck from skate to stick and converted the overtime winner at 5:32 of overtime.
The Greenville Swamp Rabbits and Jacksonville Icemen will conclude a three-game set on Sunday, March 28th at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.
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