JACKSONVILLE, FL – The South Carolina Stingrays dropped a 5-2 loss to the Jacksonville Icemen on Friday night. It was South Carolina's first loss to Jacksonville since February 19 of last season. Mitchell Gibson finished the night with 24 saves on 29 shots.
Michael Kim opened the night's scoring just past the halfway point of the first period. Kim cashed in on a rebound opportunity off Jarid Lukosevicius' initial shot to put the Stingrays ahead 1-0. The goal marked Kim's third on the season.
Jacksonville tied things up at 17:56 with a power play goal. Craig Martin scored off a shot from the top of the point just 18 seconds into the 5-on-3 opportunity.
At 7:22 into the second period, the Icemen scored a second power play goal to take a 2-1 lead. The go-ahead goal was scored by Riley Fiddler-Schultz, who tallied the period's only goal by capitalizing on a rebound off of a one-timer from Matheson Iacopelli.
Jacksonville continued their scoring run in the third period. A 2-on-1 opportunity for Christopher Brown and Jerry D'Amigo resulted in Jacksonville's third goal of the evening. Brown's goal was scored at 6:13 into the period. Just over a minute later, the Icemen scored again when Brendan Harris left a drop pass for Ivan Chukarov, who was wide open in the slot and lofted the puck into the back of the net for Jacksonville's fourth goal.
Lukosevicius cut the deficit to 4-2 when he drove in on a partial break and lofted a backhand over the shoulder of Jacksonville goaltender Matt Vernon for his sixth goal of the season.
The Icemen restored their three-goal lead 29 seconds later when Garrett Van Wyhe tallied his sixth goal of the season.
The Rays will be back in action against the Orlando Solar Bears tomorrow night. Puck drop is set for 6:05 pm at the North Charleston Coliseum.
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