SAVANNAH, Ga. – Craig Needham snapped a 2-2 tie early in the third period, Hudson Elynuik scored a pair of goals, and Cam Johnson stopped 37 straight shots – including 19 in the third period – as the Florida Everblades rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to claim a 3-2 victory over the Savannah Ghost Pirates in the rubber match of a three-game series Sunday afternoon in Enmarket Arena. 

Savannah got the scoring started with goals on each of its first two shots to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead after 3:33 of play. Josh Davies struck first with his sixth goal of the season at the 2:24 mark, as 7,485 Ghost Pirates faithful celebrated by unleashing their team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss festivities.  Cole Krygier doubled Savannah’s lead just over a minute later with his third of the campaign. 

Fending off the second of two Sean Allen minor penalties just over three minutes apart, the Everblades’ offense got rolling. Elynuik potted a shorthanded tally at the 14:36 mark, burying a feed from Oliver Chau for his ninth goal of the year, to get the Everblades on the board. The Blades trailed 2-1 at the first intermission.

The Elynuik show rolled on in the middle period, as his second goal of the afternoon tied the game at 2-2 just 4:31 into the stanza. Elynuik pounced on a rebound off a shot by Jordan Sambrook and became the first Florida player to score 10 goals this season. Jesse Lansdell also picked up an assist.

With the score tied 2-2 after 40 minutes, the Everblades needed just 80 seconds to take a 3-2 third period lead. Needham snapped the deadlock with his seventh goal of the season, burying a feed from Chau for the game-winner. Gianfranco Cassaro earned the secondary helper.

In goal, Johnson improved to 10-4-1-1, while his 37 saves were a season high. Former Everblade netminder Evan Cormier (3-5-1-0) posted 18 saves for the Ghost Pirates and suffered the loss.