NORTH CHARLESTON, SC- Their win streak now stands at nine as the Stingrays built on a Friday night win at home over the Greenville Road Warriors by sweeping back-to-back games from the Florida EverBlades (21-18-2) on Saturday and Sunday. In Saturday’s game, the ‘Rays outgunned the ‘Blades 3-1 and then returned to shut out the visitors 3-0 in Sunday afternoon’s contest.
In Sunday’s matinee, South Carolina rode a thirty-shot shutout performance by goalie Daren Machesney who picked up his first white wash of the season.
The Stingrays ran their record to 24-16-2 behind Machesney and three goals from the blue line. Two goals were scored by defenseman Nick Tabisz while another defenseman Johann Kroll added an empty net goal late in the third period to ensure the win.
The Stingrays struck first early in period one on a power play. Tabisz caught a rebound and banged it past losing goal tender Pat Nagle on the net minder’s glove side. The goal came off after Nagle couldn’t control an initial shot by forward Mike Hamilton. Zach Tarkir picked up the secondary helper just 4:37 into the game. It was the only power play of the game as the ‘Rays went 1 for 4 with the man advantage while Florida failed to score on their one opportunity.
Tabisz struck for number two in the second period and once again it came early. His second goal of the game and sixth of the season came off a setup from Pierre-Luc O’Brien. The defenseman redirected O’Brien’s soft pass sweeping it past Nagle at the 2:43 mark. Forward Maxime Lacroix also assisted on the play.
Kroll’s goal came at 18:35 of period three with the net empty for Florida in favor of an extra attacker. Forward Matt Scherer got the lone assist on that scoring play.
On Saturday, the ‘Rays got a two point contribution from Scherer who hammered home the game winning goal on a power play mid way in period three. Rookie goal tender Philipp Grubauer delighted a crowd of 4,223 by stopping 29 of 30 shots by Florida. EverBlades goalie Billy Sauer was bombarded with 45 shots on goal in taking the loss.
Saturday’s game remained in doubt until the very end. The Stingrays pulled ahead in the third period on Scherer’s goal and then held off Florida pressure until a late game empty netter by Hamilton sealed it.
Earlier forward Joe Pereira had started the scoring by staking the ‘Rays to a 1-0 first period lead. Paul Baier and Scherer were credited with the assists on the game’s first score. That goal at 18:39 of period one was answered early in period two by ‘Blades’ forward Mathieu Roy. He scored Florida’s lone goal of the contest a t 3:04 on a backhander with helpers from Kyle Lawson and Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll.
The 1-1 tie lasted until 9:24 of the last period of regulation as Scherer with help from Kroll and Lacroix got the aforementioned lone power play goal in the game. Hamilton’s empty netter with just seven seconds remaining in the game nailed the result for South Carolina.
