Logan Thompson matched his career-high with 41 saves to give the South Carolina Stingrays (26-5-3-1) a 4-1 victory over the Florida Everblades (22-11-2-2) on Saturday night in front of 5,238 fans at the North Charleston Coliseum.
Thompson is now 9-1-1 in his last 11 games and has allowed one goal or less in six consecutive starts. The netminder leads the ECHL with a 1.95 goals-against average and a save percentage of 0.936.
Forwards Mark Cooper and Max Novak each had a goal and an assist, while defenseman Tom Parisi picked up two helpers in the victory.
South Carolina took a 1-0 lead at 8:11 of the first when Parisi connected with Jonathan Charbonneau on a one-time blast that blew by the blocker of goaltender Ken Appleby. Forward Matthew Weis had the second assist on Charbonneau’s sixth tally of the season.
Cooper pushed the advantage to 2-0 just 1:31 later at 9:40 on a wrist shot from the right circle from Parisi and Andrew Cherniwchan.
At 7:40 of the second, defenseman Tariq Hammond beat Appleby on a wraparound to make it 3-0 with assists from Novak and Cooper.
Florida got on the board for the only time at 17:10 of the middle period when a puck deflected off Joe Pendenza past Thompson to cut the lead to 3-1.
The SC backstop was at his best in the third period, making a total of 23 saves to keep the Everblades off the board and negate any chance of a late comeback.
Novak iced the win with an unassisted empty-net strike at 18:25, his ninth goal of the year.
Charbonneau’s tally was the lone man-advantage goal of the night, with SC finishing 1-for-3 on the power play while holding Florida 0-for-3. The Everblades finished with a shots-on-goal advantage of 42-26, while Appleby took the loss after stopping 22 shots.
NEXT GAMESouth Carolina finishes their weekend 3-in-3 on Sunday afternoon against Greenville at 3 p.m. at the Bon Secours Arena. The Stingrays return home to the North Charleston Coliseum on Friday night for a matchup against the Jacksonville Icemen at 7:05 p.m.
For all the latest news and updates, follow the Stingrays on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Adirondack Thunder
Allen Americans
Atlanta Gladiators
Bloomington Bison
Cincinnati Cyclones
Florida Everblades
Fort Wayne Komets
Greensboro Gargoyles
Greenville Swamp Rabbits
Idaho Steelheads
Indy Fuel
Iowa Heartlanders
Jacksonville Icemen
Kalamazoo Wings
Kansas City Mavericks
Maine Mariners
Norfolk Admirals
Orlando Solar Bears
Rapid City Rush
Reading Royals
Savannah Ghost Pirates
South Carolina Stingrays
Tahoe Knight Monsters
Toledo Walleye
Trois-Rivières Lions
Tulsa Oilers
Utah Grizzlies
Wheeling Nailers
Wichita Thunder
Worcester Railers