Stingrays Fall To The Ghost Pirates in a 5-4 SO Loss

SAVANNAH, GA—The South Carolina Stingrays earned a point in a 5-4 shootout loss on the road against the Savannah Ghost Pirates on Thursday evening. Mitchell Gibson made 28 saves in the loss. Kevin O'Neil tallied a team-leading three points on the night. 

BOX SCORE

The Ghost Pirates got on the board first at 9:15 into the game. Brent Pederson took a shot from the high slot with traffic in front that beat Gibson and put Savannah up 1-0. 

South Carolina answered quickly with its own goal just 19 seconds later. Jonny Evans scored the tying goal. Evans received a drop pass from O'Neil and rifled it from the right circle into the back of the net. 

At 4:06 into the second period, the Ghost Pirates reclaimed their lead. Alex Gilmour redirected a shot from the point by Brandon Estes into the Stringrays' goal. 

Jack Adams scored his team-leading ninth power-play goal to tie things back up. Adams jammed away at a rebound in the blue paint to make it 2-2. The goal, which came at 14:10, was assisted by O'Neil and Nick Leivermann. 

With under a minute remaining in the second period, Jon McDonald scored short side to secure South Carolina's first lead of the night. The Stingrays' third goal was assisted by Kyler Kupka, who tallied his first professional point, and Benton Maass.

Savannah scored a power-play goal at 3:36 in the final period. Kyle Jeffers redirected a shot by Carter Long that snuck past Gibson to make it 3-3.

The Stingrays made it 4-3 when O'Neil picked up his own rebound off a one-timer and wristed the puck past the Ghost Pirates' goaltender Jordan Papirny. South Carolina's fourth goal once again took play on the power play and was assisted by Adams and Evans. 

At 16:17 in the third, Gilmour scored a second time for Savannah to tie the score. Gilmour wrapped around the back of Gibson's net before taking a shot to make it 4-4.

The game went into overtime, and after seven minutes of scoreless three-on-three play, it went to a shootout where Simon Pinard eventually scored the winning goal for the Ghost Pirates. 

Tomorrow, the Stingrays will face off against the Ghost Pirates again this weekend, this time at home at 7:05 p.m.