DULUTH, GA – The South Carolina Stingrays (38-28-3-1) defeated the Atlanta Gladiators (26-36-6-2) by a score of 3-1 on Wednesday night at the Infinite Energy Center and knocked their magic number to clinch a spot in the 2017 Kelly Cup Playoffs down to just one point.
Three different scorers paced South Carolina, all assisted by forward Andrew Cherniwchan, while goaltender Parker Milner made 21 saves to earn the victory. The Stingrays have now defeated Atlanta in five straight games, and are 8-2-0 against the Gladiators this season.
South Carolina is tied for third place with the Orlando Solar Bears in the South Division standings with two games remaining in the regular season. Based on the ECHL’s tie-breaking system, if the playoffs started today the Stingrays would control the third seed.
Scott Tanski struck first for South Carolina, scoring his 11th goal of the season to give the Rays a 1-0 lead at 18:12 of the opening frame. Assists on the goal were given to Joey Leach as well as Andrew Cherniwchan. Tanski notched the tally by knocking the puck in out of the air on a rebound to the left of the net off a shot by Leach.
But Atlanta responded quickly to even the game at 1-1 on a goal by Tyler Murovich just 34 seconds after the Tanski marker. The teams went into the first intermission all tied up.
Derek Arnold took the lead back for South Carolina at 2:44 of the second, scoring his 15th of the year on a turnaround wrist shot from the slot with assists from Joe Devin and Cherniwchan.
In the third, Wade Epp extended the lead for the Rays with his second goal of the season at 7:17 from Cherniwchan and Tanski.
South Carolina outshot Atlanta 16-4 in the final period and 28-22 overall in the contest. Neither team was able to strike on the power play as the Stingrays finished 0-for-3 and Atlanta went 0-for-2 on the man-advantage.
Atlanta goaltender Dan Vladar made 25 saves and took the loss for the Gladiators. There were also two fights in the contest, with both Marcus Perrier and Epp dropping the gloves for the Stingrays against Shane Bakker of Atlanta.
The Stingrays have two home games remaining during the final weekend of the ECHL’s regular season, facing Atlanta once more on Friday night before squaring off with Cincinnati on Saturday. Both remaining home games begin at 7:05 p.m.
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