NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – The South Carolina Stingrays defeated the Atlanta Gladiators 3-1 on Wednesday morning. Mitchell Gibson made 25 saves on 26 shots in the early morning victory. Three different Stingrays tallied goals for South Carolina, and Kevin O’Neil recorded two assists.
Nick Leivermann scored the first goal of the morning, the period’s lone goal, at 5:07 into the game. Leivermann gained possession of the puck at the left point and skated deeper into the offensive zone before ripping a wrist shot past Atlanta goaltender Gustavs Grigals to make it 1-0.
South Carolina extended its lead in the latter half of the second period. O’Neil attempted an across-the-crease pass to teammate Jon McDonald, but the puck redirected off a Gladiator’s skate and landed right on the stick of Ivan Lodnia, who rifled the puck home to make it 2-0. Tyson Empey had the secondary assist on Lodnia’s fourth goal of the year.
11:15 into the third period, Jack Adams extended the South Carolina lead to 3-0 with his team-leading eighth power-play goal of the season. O’Neil fed the puck through the crease, and Adams tapped it in for his 19th goal of the season.
Atlanta made it 3-1 with a late goal by Jackson Pierson, but the Rays hung on to earn their 31st victory of the year. The Stingrays are back in action this Friday in Norfolk when they take on the Admirals at 7:05 pm.
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