DULUTH, GA – The Jacksonville Icemen defeated the Atlanta Gladiators 3-1 on Wednesday as Luke Lynch, Jake Elmer and Craig Martin scored for Jacksonville with goaltender Francois Brassard picking up the win in his return to the lineup. The Icemen have now won seven of their last nine contests.
The Icemen got off to a great start in this game as they had a lot of momentum and offensive zone pressure early in this game. About five minutes into the period, Icemen forward Martin centered the puck to Lynch, who was in the slot, and Lynch buried his 4th goal on the season off of a quick snapshot.
Moments later, Jacksonville forward Vladislav Mikhalchuk received a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding which sent the Icemen to the penalty kill. The Gladiators were unable to get much of anything going on their powerplay with the Icemen penalty killers not giving them any room at all.
Later in the period, the Icemen had a powerplay of their own, however, Jacksonville turned over the puck at center ice which sent an Atlanta’s Hugo Roy on a shorthanded breakaway and scored to tie up the game at one goal apiece.
The Icemen started off the second period on their heels as  the Gladiators had all of the momentum and offensive zone pressure to start the frame. Once the Icemen got settled back into the game, it was a great action packed first ten minutes. The teams were trading rushes and offensive zone pressure while playing fast paced hockey, and there was no whistle for several minutes early in the second period, but the score remained tied 1-1 after two periods.
The two teams held each other in check for a majority of the third period. However, late in the period, Icemen forward Lynch drew a penalty to give Jacksonville a powerplay. Â On that opportunity, defenseman Jacob Panetta rushed the puck up the ice to set up Elmer on the right face-off dot. Elmer delivered a shot over the glove of Kevin Mandolese for his 7th goal of the season to give the Icemen the late 2-1 lead.
The Gladiators then pulled their goaltender, but forward Martin scored an empty-net goal in the waning seconds of regulation to put his team ahead by two.
The Icemen went on to win the game 3-1 and led in shots on goal 28-23. The Icemen are back home on Friday, December 10th versus the Greenville Swamp Rabbits and Saturday against the Orlando Solar Bears for Marvel Super-Hero Night.
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