DULULTH, GA – After a day off, the Atlanta Gladiators and Jacksonville Icemen met in the second of a two-game set at Gas South Arena. Unlike Friday’s 1-0 affair won by the home-standing Gladiators, there was plenty of scoring in the final two periods as Atlanta netted the final three goals on the way to a 5-2 victory.
Neither team was able to find a goal in the opening frame. Jacksonville had the better of the play, outshooting Atlanta 12-7. The Icemen had a golden opportunity to take the lead when a pair of overlapping Gladiators gave the visitors 1:38 of power play time with a two-man advantage. The Icemen failed take advantage, putting just three shots on Gladiators netminder Chris Nell which he stopped.
The shield in front of both nets came off in the middle frame as five goals were scored. Atlanta opened things up 1:16 in when Gabe Guettler fed a pass to Derek Topatigh who fired a shot under the pads of Jacksonville goalie Francois Brassard for his sixth goal of the season. That tally was matched 63 seconds later when Icemen forward Derek Lodermeier forced a turnover and beat Nell for his sixth and a 1-1 tie.
Not too long later, the Icemen went on their third power play of the game. Just as the advantage was ending, a shot at Nell went wide and took a long carom out to center ice. Cody Sylvester, who was just coming out of the penalty box, caught up to the puck and headed in on a breakaway. He got in close and put the puck into the back of the cage for his 15th of the year, giving his team its second lead of the afternoon.
Late in the period, the Icemen finally got its power play to click. With a couple of seconds more than three minutes left before the intermission, Abbott Girduckis got control of the pucl and skated toward the slot. He found just enough room to release a shot that found its way through traffic and in for his eighth od the season, tying the contest at 2-2.
The tie lasted just over a minute when the Gladiators took the lead for good. Kameron Kielly sent the puck to the point where Greg Campbell took it and fired at Brassard. Just before the disc got to the goalie, Guertler got a piece of it and redirected it home for his 12th of the 2021-22 campaign to make it a 3-2 Atlanta lead after forty minutes.
The teams fought tooth and nail through much of the third period with both Nell (27 saves) and Brassard (30 saves) keeping the Gladiators lead at one. Late in regulation, Brassard was pulled for an extra attacker but Atlanta took advantage when Eric Neiley forced a Jacksonville turnover at center ice and scored his fifth into the empty cage, giving the home team a two-goal margin. A second empty netter by Luke Nogard for his fourth of the year with 16 ticks remaining finished out the scoring.
Both teams return to the ice on Wednesday as Atlanta hosts the Norfolk Admirals while Jacksonville heads west to face the Idaho Steelheads.
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