Stingrays Sink Admirals in Season Opener

NORFOLK, VA – The South Carolina Stingrays (1-0-0-0) offense provided a spark, netting five goals in a 5-2 victory over the Norfolk Admirals (0-1-0-0) on Friday night at the Norfolk Scope Arena to open the 2022-23 campaign.

BOX SCORE

Carter Turnbull opened the scoring just over three minutes into the first period, tallying the first goal of the 2022-23 season for the Stingrays. In motion, Turnbull received a feed from Bear Hughes and fired a shot from the right circle for the 1-0 lead.

With just under five minutes remaining in the opening period, Matt Anderson crept into the slot and wristed a shot past Norfolk’s Cale Morris to double the lead. Alex Fortin created space for Anderson to find an open lane for his first goal of the season.

Forty seconds into the second period, Connor Moore fed Jarid Lukosevicius with a stretch pass, leading to an odd-man rush for South Carolina. Lukosevicius dropped the puck for Kevin O’Neil’s breakaway, sliding the puck between the legs of Morris for the three-goal advantage.

Norfolk fought back with a pair of goals before the second period ended, beginning with Joe Widmar’s first of the season. Carson Musser fired a shot from the blue line that ricocheted off the pad of Stingrays’ netminder Jeremy Brodeur, leading to Widmar’s tap-in rebound.

Nearing the end of the middle stanza, Widmar received a stretch pass from Aidan Brown and was off to the races. Brodeur turned back Widmar’s initial attempt, but Brett Van Os was there to clean up the rebound and cut the deficit back to one.

That was the closest Norfolk would get in the contest as the Stingrays scored two additional goals before the final horn sounded. Michael Kim skated down the half wall, escaping the Admirals’ defense before flipping a pass to Tarek Baker in the slot. From a knee, Baker pushed the puck past Morris for his first professional goal.

Midway through the third period, Baker and Jonny Evans set up a give-and-go where Baker crashed the net with the puck before colliding with the Norfolk defense. Lukosevicius found the loose puck and tapped home his first goal with the Stingrays for the 5-2 advantage.

Brodeur made 21 saves on 23 attempts and earned his first victory in net for South Carolina. The power play struck once on three attempts while the penalty kill knocked off all three shorthanded chances.