NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – The South Carolina Stingrays defeated the Florida Everblades 5-2 in front of a crowd of 6,493 fans on Saturday night. Garin Bjorklund made 31 saves on 33 shots in the victory.
The Everblades scored the first goal of the evening 5:45 into the game. Logan Lambdin collected a cross-ice feed from Will Reilly and wristed it past Bjorklund for his twelfth goal of the season.
South Carolina tied it up less than two minutes later on a goal by Jonny Evans. Evans fired a sharp-angle shot from the right-wing corner that snuck through the legs of Florida netminder Ludovic Waeber. The goal was Evans' 15th of the season and his third goal against Florida this year.
The Everblades retook their lead on a goal from Zach Uens, who beat Bjorklund with a wrist shot from the left circle to make it 2-1 Florida.
Austin Magera tied the game for the Rays with his team-leading 22nd goal of the season. Jack Adams stole the puck behind the Florida net and bumped it to Ivan Lodnia, who fed it to Magera for the goal.
Lodnia put the Stingrays in front with the second period's only goal. Connor Moore collected the puck at the right point and fed it across the ice to Lodnia, who buried his sixth goal of the season to make it 3-2 Stingrays.
South Carolina scored twice in the third period to put the game out of reach. Magera fed the puck across to Ethan Strang, who buried a one-timer to make it 4-2. The tally was Strang's first professional goal in his first professional game.
Ryan Leibold put the game away with a power play goal 8:44 into the final period. Michael Kim rushed the puck into the offensive zone and dished it to Leibold, who roofed it to make it 5-2 Stingrays. The goal was Leibold's 11th of the year.
The Stingrays are back at it tomorrow against the Everblades at 3:05 pm.
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