Blades Use Early Push To Get By Rays

Cam Maclise had a three-point night with two goals and an assist and the Florida Everblades (30-11-2-2) rode an early lead to a 5-2 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays (32-9-3-1) in front of 5,892 fans on Nickelodeon Night at the North Charleston Coliseum.

BOX SCORE

Forward Dan DeSalvo registered a goal and an assist in a losing effort for South Carolina, while defender Tariq Hammond scored his third goal of the year and goaltender Logan Thompson finished with 44 saves.

The Everblades took control of the game early when Hugo Roy scored at 2:45 of the first period on a net-front scramble to make it 1-0.

Florida then added to their advantage 35 seconds into the middle frame on a strike by Zach Magwood that made it a 2-0 score.

Still without a goal entering the third, the Rays began to mount a comeback. Hammond got his team on the board at 2:37 of the final period with a strike from the left circle that had assists from DeSalvo and forward Mark Cooper.

But the Everblades responded at 7:40 of the third on Maclise’s first of the game to go back up by a two-goal margin at 3-1.

The Stingrays got back within one in the closing minutes when DeSalvo scored his 17th of the season unassisted at 17:58. But again the momentum was short-lived as Maclise found the net for a second time just 26 seconds later for Florida at 18:24 to make it 4-2.

With the SC net empty in the final minute, Hunter Garlent was awarded a goal after his stick was slashed away from him at 19:27 and that sealed the victory for the Everblades.

Florida outshot the Rays 49-27 in the contest, while both teams came up empty on the man-advantage with the Everblades finishing 0-for-2 and South Carolina ending at 0-for-1. Goaltender Ken Appleby earned the win by making 25 saves.

NEXT GAMEThe Stingrays head on the road for a two-game trip to Orlando next week beginning on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

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

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