ESTERO, FL – Brett Bulmer scored twice, while the Everblades posted three power goals to the defeat the Greenville Swamp Rabbits 5-3 at Germain Arena Friday night. Florida won its fifth straight game and maintained a five-point South Division lead.
The Swamp Rabbits took the first lead of the game with a power play goal at 4:04 of the first period. Matt Prapavessis was given room up high to wind up a blast a shot through traffic that beat Callum Booth on the glove side to make it a 1-0 Swamp Rabbits game.
The Everblades had their fair share of chances on two power plays at the end of the period, but they were unable to convert and carried 1:18 of power play time into the intermission. After one period of play, the Swamp Rabbits held a 1-0 lead over the Everblades.
Halfway through the second, Derek Sheppard received a pass from Michael Kirkpatrick and blasted a shot that Bulmer got enough of to redirect it between the five-hole of Ty Rimmer. The power play goal was the Swamp Rabbits first allowed in 17 penalty box prior.
Mitchell Heard grabbed the Everblades their first lead of the game with 4:27 to go in the second period. Stephen MacAulay won the faceoff in the Greenville end back to Matt Mackenzie who quickly sent it down to Heard who was speeding towards the slot. Heard turned he fired the puck and beat Rimmer just over his right pad to give the Everblades the 2-1 lead.
The Everblades went into the second intermission with a 2-1 lead, while dominating in shots-for outshooting the Swamp Rabbits 32-14.
The Everblades added another power play goal at 11:30 of the third courtesy Bulmer again. After the Everblades were able to set up a zone presence, Sheppard found Bulmer in the slot primed for a wrist shot that beat Rimmer on his glove side.
The Swamp Rabbits brought themselves back within one at 14:23 of the third period on a rush by Wade Murphy and Matt Johnson. Johnson brought the puck in along the left side dasher and sped around his man before whipping the puck on net. Murphy redirected the puck on his backhand over the blocker of Booth to make it a 3-2 game late.
Nearly a minute later, Greenville shot themselves in the foot as they took an offensive zone high-sticking penalty giving the Everblades a power play that they inevitably scored on. Joe Cox put the Everblades third power play goal of the night home from his knees he cleaned up Matt Berry’s initial attempt.
The Everblades picked up a penalty of their own while the Swamp Rabbits were pressuring in their end with 2:15 to play. Greenville used their timeout and pulled Rimmer for the extra attacker. The Swamp Rabbits scored just 36 seconds into the power play as a shot from Sean Flanagan banked off of Booth’s toe of his pad to Evan Jasper who had a wide-open net to shoot at for the tally.
The Swamp Rabbits pulled Rimmer a second time; the Blades fought for the puck in the neutral zone and John McCarron turned and hit a fade away from right outside the Blades blue line with an empty-net dagger to give the Everblades a two-goal lead once again. The empty netter sealed the victory for the Everblades as they closed out the game by a 5-3 score.
GAME NOTES: Matt Berry extended his point streak to seven games as he added an assist… Brett Bulmer hit the 20-goal mark with his two goals; in doing so the Everblades now have five 20+ goal scorers… The Everblades close out the eight-game homestand on Saturday against Atlanta at 7 p.m.
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