NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The South Carolina Stingrays ended a five game losing streak on the road last weekend but immediately extended another losing streak, this one on home ice. Three losses at the North Charleston Coliseum over the past weekend ran their home pond losing streak to five games. They dropped two straight games to Gwinnett, losing Friday evening 2-1 and then suffering a 1-0 shutout Saturday night. On Sunday they managed to salvage one point in a 4-3 overtime defeat at the hands of the Greenville Road Warriors (15-8-1) 31 points. The losses caused the ‘Rays to tumble out of first place in the South Division of the ECHL Eastern Conference. Their record now stands at (14-11-2) 30 points. The Gwinnett Gladiators (13-8-8) 34 points vaulted into first place with the two weekend wins over South Carolina. Friday night’s loss to the Gladiators wasted a strong effort by rookie goaltender Philipp Grubauer (10-4-1), who stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced. Meanwhile Jeff Jakaitis in goal for Gwinnett, ran his record to 7-3-1 making 29 saves to pick up the 2-1 win. A crowd of 2,226 saw the Gladiators score in the first period, using a shorthanded goal to take a 1-0 lead. Paul Flache recorded his first goal of the season at 10:06 with helpers going to forwards Tyler Murovich and Bryan Brutlag. The goal came off a turnover as the Stingrays tried to break out of their own end on a power play. The same two forwards also picked up assists on the winning goal at 7:01 of the third period. Chris Clackson pushed a soft shot past Grubauer from just inside the blue line for a 2-0 lead. The ‘Rays who are in the midst of a major power play outage drew within 2-1 as Zack Tarkir got one with the ‘Rays on a man advantage at 14:35 of the third period. It was South Carolina’s first power play goal in their last five games. Newcomer Chris Doyle who just signed with the team from the Augusta River Hawks of the Southern Professional Hockey League teamed with Sean Dolan on the assists. On the night, the ‘Rays managed just one power play goal on seven opportunities. The lack of offense continued Saturday as Jakaitis picked up a second win, 1-0, as he out dueled ‘Rays’ net minder Daren Machesney. The Gwinnett goalie picked up his second shutout of the season making 23 saves. For the second straight game, the home team got great goaltending, but could not generate enough offense to go with the efforts in goal. The game’s only goal, came just 0:36 seconds into the second period. Defenseman Will Colbert hammered a shot past Machesney as forwards Igor Gongalsky and Nikita Kashirsky combined to get the puck in deep and then back to Colbert who let loose from the point. Power play woes affected both teams, as the Stingrays went 0 for 5 on the power play. Gwinnett could not score either with the advantage, despite having seven power play chances. While the South Carolina offense finally showed up Sunday, it was a frustrating afternoon for the bulk of the 1,846 in attendance, as the home team lost again, this time 4-3 in OT. The Road Warriors never trailed in the contest. Marc-Olivier Vallerand scored two first period strikes to push his seasons total to 13 goals to grab the lead. His second goal was a shorthanded score, the second shorthanded goal surrendered over the weekend by South Carolina. Brendan Connolly was credited with the lone assist on the first goal and Connor Shields also got a single helper on the second Gladiators’ goal. The Stingrays drew within 2-1 with a power play marker from Sean Dolan at 10:11 of the second period. This marked Dolan’s seventh goal of the season, set up by Derek Keller and Paul Baier. The ‘Rays’ one goal deficit did not last for long. Just under two minutes later, Francis Meilleur beat net minder Grubauer as Vallerand picked up an assist to go with his earlier goals and Connolly picked up his second assist. South Carolina rookie Joe Pereira tightened the game at 3-2 with his first goal as a professional using a wrap around move to beat winning goalie Nic Riopel. Dustin Stevenson was credited with an assist on the goal. Danick Paquette gave the home crowd hope, with just 54 seconds left he tied the score 3-3 with setups coming from Baier and Trent Campbell. The rally became moot however, as at 1:47 into overtime, the Stingrays had just failed to score again on a power play when Lee Baldwin beat Grubauer blocker side for the game winner and the 4-3 win. Over the weekend the Stingrays managed just two power play goals in 18 opportunities. Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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