Two early goals gave the Florida Everblades (10-5-3-0) a lead they never relinquished Wednesday night, defeating the South Carolina Stingrays (10-9-0-0) by a final score of 4-1 at Hertz Arena.
Forward Tim Harrison scored for the Stingrays in the second period, while goaltender Parker Milner made his fourth straight start for SC and stopped 31 shots in a losing effort.
The Everblades got out in front right away on back-to-back tallies by forwards Tommy Thompson and Blake Winiecki at 1:47 and 2:22 of the first period respectively.
Harrison got the Rays one closer in the second, scoring off the rush with a wrist shot over the glove of Everblades’ goaltender Jamie Phillips to make it 2-1. Harrison’s third of the season came with the first career ECHL assist for defenseman Cameron Bakker.
But Derek Sheppard pushed the Florida lead back to two goals in the third with a power play strike at 2:15 of the final period, and Steven Lorentz added the final tally of the night into the empty net at 18:49.
The Everblades outshot South Carolina 35-26 in the contest and scored the lone goal on special teams in a game that featured a total of 22 penalties. Florida was 1-for-8 on the power play, while the Stingrays finished 0-for-7.
Phillips earned the victory for the Blades between the pipes, stopping 25 shots.
The two teams are back at it on Friday at Hertz Arena for the second of the week’s 3-game series at 7:30 p.m. South Carolina will return home next month with some big games including Social Media Night on Dec. 7 and Teddy Bear Toss on Dec. 8.
Tickets are on sale now! For more information or to purchase, contact the Stingrays by phone at 843-744-2248 or visit 3300 W. Montague Ave. Suite A-200 during business hours.
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