High-Scoring 2nd Pushes Rabbits Past Rays

The Greenville Swamp Rabbits (23-21-1-1) scored five second period goals to get out to a big lead and held off the South Carolina Stingrays (32-7-3-1) later in the contest to secure a 6-2 decision on Wednesday night at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

BOX SCORE

South Carolina forwards Andrew Cherniwchan and Max Novak each scored during the second, while goaltender Logan Thompson turned aside 34 shots in a losing effort.

After a scoreless first period, the Swamp Rabbits took control of the game by finding the back of the net five times in the middle frame.

Nathan Perkovich got on the board first for Greenville, converting on a shorthanded 2-on-0 chance at 3:23 of the second to make it 1-0.

South Carolina evened things up less than a minute later at 4:04 when Cherniwchan netted his 19th tally of the season to tie the game at 1-1 on the power play from defender Kristofers Bindulis and forward Dylan Steman.

The Swamp Rabbits went ahead for the second time on a goal by Karl El-Mir at 8:30 of the middle frame and then extended the lead to 3-1 on a strike by Matt Marcinew at 13:27.

Just 23 seconds later, Novak converted on a breakaway for an unassisted goal at 13:50 after a steal in neutral ice to make it a 3-2 score. Novak’s goal total for the season is now at 11.

But Greenville posted two more goals before the end of the middle period to make it 5-2 with Mike Monfredo scoring at 15:05 and Marcinew scoring his second of the game at 18:10.

The Swamp Rabbits got a final tally from Cédric Lacroix at 5:38 of the third to put the game out of reach for the Stingrays.

Each team scored once on the man-advantage in the contest with South Carolina finishing 1-for-4 on the power play while Greenville went 1-for-3. The Swamp Rabbits outshot SC 40-36 in the game, with goaltender Jeremy Helvig stopping 34 shots in the victory.

NEXT GAMEThe Stingrays return to home ice at the North Charleston Coliseum for their next contest on Friday night against the Norfolk Admirals at 7:05 p.m.

—Tickets for all of South Carolina’s upcoming 2019-20 home contests are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

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