WORCESTER, M.A. - The South Carolina Stingrays earned a convincing 8-1 victory Friday evening against the Worcester Railers. Alexander Suzdalev, Micah Miller, Connor Moore, Kyler Kupka (2), Grant Cruikshank, Jamie Engelbert, and Justin Nachbaur scored for the Stingrays, while Seth Eisele earned his fourth victory of the season with a 16-save performance. Kupka was named the game's number-one star.
Suzdalev put the Rays on the board 6:19 into the opening period when he rifled a shot from the high slot past Worcester goaltender Michael Bullion for his second goal of the year. Miller tallied his fifth goal of the season with a one-timer from the left circle. Worcester's Jordan Kaplan cut the Stingrays' lead in half one minute later with his first goal of the year. With 35 seconds left in the first period, Moore restored South Carolina's two-goal lead with a bar-down shot from the left circle. The Stingrays finished the first period with 19 shots on goal.
Kupka extended the Stingray lead 13 seconds into the second period with a sharp-angle shot from the goal line. Cruikshank made it 5-1 Stingrays with a power play goal 13 minutes later. The second period ended with the Stingrays leading 5-1.
Engelbert joined the scoring action with his third goal in three games fifty seconds into the third period. Kupka tallied his second of the night halfway through the third period when he knocked in a rebound after a shot from Moore. Nachbaur made it 8-1 when he buried another rebound after a Ben Hawerchuk shot. Hawerchuk earned his first point of the season on the goal.
With the victory, the Stingrays improved to 7-2-1-0 on the season. The Stingrays are back in action Saturday night for a matchup against the Maine Mariners at 6:00 pm.
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