GREENSBORO, N.C. – Keaton Mastrodonato notched four points, eight different players scored and 16 total earned a point, and Mattias Sholl stopped all but one of 29 shots as the Greenville Swamp Rabbits throttled the Greensboro Gargoyles 8-1 on Thanksgiving Eve.
Mattias Sholl turned aside a barrage of shots in the opening period, but eventually, it was Ethan Leyh that broke through him to get the Gargoyles on the board. With 6:05 to go in the first, Leyh pocketed a puck that pinballed around the slot area past Sholl to give the Gargoyles a 1-0 lead (Jake Elmer and Patrick Newell assisted).
From there, it was all Swamp Rabbits with eight unanswered goals. Following the conclusion of a Swamp Rabbits power play, Tim Lovell skated coast to coast and buried a chance past Nikita Quapp in net for Greensboro, squaring the game at 1-1 with 3:45 left in the first. Exactly 102 seconds later, Carter Savoie picked up a Keaton Mastrodonato tap amidst the shuffle of a faceoff scramble, firing a snipe over Quapp’s shoulder to give the Swamp Rabbits a 2-1 lead.
Cam Hausinger hit paydirt off the rush with Hudson Schandor and Dante Sheriff 21 seconds into the second frame to expand the lead to 3-1, and were followed on another rush at 5:56 by Brent Pedersen’s second of the season, set up by Ryan O’Reilly and Keaton Mastrodonato to make it 4-1. In the midst of four-on-four hockey, Josh Atkinson sprang up the ice on a pass from Jake Murray, blew past the defense, and rifled a shot past Quapp from the left to blow the lead to 5-1 entering the third. Ruslan Khazheyev came in net for Quapp to start the third period.
Tim Rego jumped on the scoresheet with his first professional goal 1:00 into the third period, once again collecting a Mastrodonato helper from the slot past Khazheyev’s glove, ballooning the lead to 6-1. Mastrodonato then took it upon himself to ignite the goal lamp at 5:56 when Patrick Polino fed him from the right wall and he finished with a snipe over Khazheyev’s blocker shoulder to make It 7-1 (Jacob Modry also assisted). On the final power play of the game in the waning minutes of regulation, Ben Poisson banked home a Ryan O’Reilly shot, bringing the game to it’s final score of 8-1 with 3:11 remaining (Austin Saint also assisted).
Mattias Sholl turned aside all but one of 29 shots in earning wins in back-to-back starts and three in his last four (3-3-0-0).
The Swamp Rabbits shift gears to the first of two games against the Atlanta Gladiators this Saturday, November 29th. Puck drop at Gas South Arena is slated for 7:10 p.m. EST
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