NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The South Carolina Stingrays (17-7-2-0) earned a decisive 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Gladiators (10-16-0-0) on Wednesday night. Jackson Leppard tallied four points, Kameron Kielly added three primary assists, and Mitchell Gibson stopped 26 of 27 shots in the victory.
Leppard opened the scoring for the Stingrays 8:41 into the first period. Kielly won an offensive zone faceoff straight to Leppard, who beat Atlanta goaltender Tyler Harmon with a wrist shot from the left hash marks.
The score remained 1-0 after 20 minutes of play. Gibson finished the first period with 17 stops.
Atlanta tied the game 12:34 into the second period on a goal by Jay Powell. Powell beat Gibson with a wrist shot from the high slot.
The Rays regained the lead less than five minutes later on a goal from Benton Maass. Maass collected a centering feed from Kielly and beat Harmon with a low, hard snapshot for his fourth goal of the season.
Leppard extended the Stingray lead 5:04 into the third period. Leppard took a feed from Kielly and slid a backhand between Harmon's legs for his second goal of the night.
Ryan Leibold iced the game for South Carolina with an empty net goal with 22 seconds remaining.
The Stingrays will look to win their seventh game in a row tomorrow night in Orlando. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm at Kia Center.
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