The South Carolina Stingrays got out in front early and never trailed on their way to a 4-1 win over the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in the second preseason game in as many nights between the two South Division rivals on Saturday at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
Three Stingrays forwards had multi-point efforts, with Cole Ully, Max Novak and Cam Askew each scoring a goal and an assist. Goaltender Billy Christopoulos got the start and went the distance for the Rays to earn the win, totaling 40 saves in his only preseason appearance.
Askew put South Carolina on top early, scoring just 3:25 into the game from Novak to make it 1-0.
The Rays kept coming at Greenville for the remainder of the opening period and piled up 19 total shots in the first 20 minutes of the game, but goaltender Ryan Bednard kept the Swamp Rabbits in it with 18 saves.
Ully extended South Carolina’s advantage to 2-0 early in the second, scoring at 4:43 with an assist from Tom Parisi.
The Swamp Rabbits got on the board and cut the lead down to 2-1 when defender Brien Diffley scored a power play goal on a rebound in front for his second preseason goal in as many games at 15:33.
But Novak responded just 15 seconds later for the Stingrays, pushing the South Carolina lead back up to two goals at 3-1 by finishing a 2-on-1 opportunity. Assists on the strike came from Askew and blueliner Tariq Hammond.
Charbonneau added the final strike of the night at 5:19 of the third, closing out the scoring. Assists on the tally came from Ully and Dylan Steman.
Steman had the most shots on net of any Stingrays skater, registering six attempts on net against Bednard.
Despite getting outshot early in the game, the Swamp Rabbits rebounded to take the edge in shots on goal for the contest by a 41-39 margin. Bednard made 35 saves for Greenville in a losing effort.
For the second straight night, the Swamp Rabbits had the only man-advantage goal and finished 1-for-4 in the game while South Carolina came up empty on their one and only power play chance of the contest.
The 27th season of Stingrays hockey begins in Orlando against the Solar Bears on October 12. The Stingrays will open their home schedule in North Charleston vs. Orlando the following week on Saturday, October 19.
Season tickets are on sale now! For more information or to purchase, contact the Stingrays by phone at 843-744-2248.
Single game tickets for all 2019-20 Stingrays home games are also on sale now via Ticketmaster and the North Charleston Coliseum Box Office.
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