Five different scorers lit the lamp and goaltender Alex Dubeau made 37 saves as the South Carolina Stingrays (14-12-6-2) earned their second straight win over the Fort Wayne Komets (10-3-2-1) by a score of 5-1 on Saturday night at the North Charleston Coliseum.
Defender Max Gottlieb scored a goal and assisted on two others in the victory for South Carolina, while Dylan Steman added a goal and an assist and Zach Malatesta posted two helpers.
The Rays got out in front first just 1:20 into the contest when Jesse Lees found open space in the slot and pushed the puck past goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon to give SC a 1-0 advantage. Assists on the opening tally went to Gottlieb and forward Cole Ully.
Dan DeSalvo extended the lead to 2-0 on his eighth goal of the season at 4:55 of the first. While on the power play, DeSalvo threw the puck from behind the net out in front and it glanced past the red line. The second Stingrays marker came with assists from Mark Cooper and Malatesta.
Darien Craighead made it 3-0 for South Carolina at 9:49 of the opening frame, powering a one-timer past Guindon off a pass by Gottlieb. A second assist on the power play goal was credited to forward Caleb Herbert.
After a scoreless middle frame, Steman made it 4-0 just 36 seconds into the third with his eighth tally of the year from captain Andrew Cherniwchan and Malatesta.
The fourth tally of the night for the Rays chased Guindon from the net, with Fort Wayne electing to replace him with Jeremy Helvig.
The Komets got on the board with a quick response to Steman’s marker at 2:06 of the final frame from Brandon Hawkins to cut the SC lead down to three goals at 4-1.
But Gottlieb put the Stingrays back in front by four with his third goal of the year on a perfectly placed shot up high from Steman and forward Brett Supinski at 7:21.
Dubeau did the rest of the job for South Carolina, holding Fort Wayne off the scoreboard for the remainder of the night, including 11 saves in the third period.
The Rays finished 2-for-3 on the power play in the contest, while the Komets were held scoreless on their two man-advantage chances. Fort Wayne held a 38-19 margin in shots on goal during the game, with Guindon stopping nine attempts and Helvig saving five in in the final frame.
The Stingrays and Komets complete their 3-game weekend series on Sunday afternoon at the North Charleston Coliseum at 3:05 p.m.—To purchase single game tickets for all Stingrays home games, click here!
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