ESTERO, FL – Martin Ouellette stopped all 19 shots faced to earn his second shutout of the season and propel the Florida Everblades (33-9-1-4, 71 points) to a 4-0 victory over the Allen Americans Friday night at Germain Arena.
Stephen MacAulay got the E#verblades on the board first with his team leading 21st goal of the season just 3:46 into the first period. The Everblades were able to establish a zone presence in the Allen end and traversed with the puck behind the net. Allen goaltender Jeremy Brodeur got his stick tangled up and lost it in the corner. MacAulay was stationed in the slot and received a pass from Joe Cox and wired it past the blocker side of Brodeur for the score.
After a back and forth physical period that even featured a scrap between Florida’s Kyle Neuber and Allen’s Mike Gunn, the Everblades found themselves on top 1-0 with the early tally from MacAulay.
The Everblades extended their lead 56 seconds into the second period while on the power play that carried over from the end of the first period. Mitchell Heard got a shot off on Brodeur’s blocker side that appeared to be on its way in before Brodeur blockered it away, but he was unable to control the rebound and it rolled back to the stick of Heard for the easy tap in goal that gave the Everblades a 2-0 lead.
Martin Ouellette kept the Everblades up with a two goal lead while on the penalty kill as he absolutely robbed a cross crease opportunity for the Americans and followed it up with a series of saves on the rebound chances.
The Americans thought they had gotten on the board with 2:50 to go in the period, but due to the puck being knocked by Colby McAuley’s hand, the goal was quickly waived off by the referee Liam Sewell. With the goal being washed off the board, the Everblades took their 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
Cox added to the Florida lead with his 15th goal of the season on a rebound off of a Matt Mackenzie shot. Cox managed to corral and whip the puck into the net to give the Blades a 3-0 lead about six minutes into the third period.
The Americans had another goal waived off soon after Cox’s goal as they interfered with Ouellette behind the net and fired the puck into an empty net, and yet again referee Liam Sewell waived off the goal.
The Americans, in a pure move of desperation, pulled their goalie with 7:19 remaining in the game as they trailed by three goals and were on their eighth power play of the game to create a 6-on-4 advantage. However, Florida’s penalty kill did its job and to go a perfect 8-for-8 on the night.
The Everblades weren’t quite done yet as Brett Bulmer was able to bury a rebound from a Keegan Kanzig shot with just 3:33 left to cap off the 4-0 win.
Ouellette stopped all 19 shots for his second shutout of the season, and his ninth of his pro career. Brodeur took the loss allowing four goals on 33 shots faced in the game.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
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