ESTERO, FL – The South Carolina Stingrays (23-9-3-1) fell to the Florida Everblades (24-9-3-2) by a final score of 3-2 on Wednesday night at Hertz Arena.
The Everblades got on the board first on Cam Darcy’s eighth goal of the season. Tic-tac-toe passing finished with Darcy redirecting a pass from Nick Lappin past Tyler Wall for the 1-0 lead 3:18 into the opening period.
Florida doubled their lead 5:04 later with James McEwan’s fifth tally of the year. Levko Koper disrupted a clearing attempt and fed McEwan at the right circle where he snapped the puck over Wall’s glove for the 2-0 lead.
Kevin O’Neil cut the deficit in half with 6:41 remaining in the first stanza on his 13th goal of the season. O’Neil hesitated in the neutral zone and opened a lane towards the net where he pulled the puck back and fired it past Cam Johnson for the 2-1 contest to close out the first period.
South Carolina tied the game with 6:11 left in the middle frame on Tarek Baker's fifth goal of the year. Lawton Courtnall forced a turnover and Baker took advantage of the mistake, funneling a shot past Johnson for the 2-2 game for the lone goal of the second period.
Jake Smith regained the Everblades’ one-goal advantage with 6:35 remaining in regulation with his 16th goal of the season. Wall made an initial save on a shot from Calisti where Smith slipped behind the goaltender and tucked it into the back of the net for the 3-2 win.
The Stingrays return to action this Friday, January 27th for game two of three this week against the Florida Everblades. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at Hertz Arena in Estero, FL.
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