Gwinnett Gladiators Armour Stays Strong as they Beat Florida Everblades 4-1 - ECHL

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com - DULUTH , GA – The Florida Everblades (35-22-8) suffered their second straight regulation defeat on the road as former Everblade goaltender Craig Kowalski back-stopped the Gwinnett Gladiators (40-19-5) to a 4-1 victory on Thursday night, turning away 46 of 47 Florida shots in front of a crowd of 3,522 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center .

The teams played to a scoreless first period, although both clubs had quality chances it was the goaltenders that came up big. Everblades net-minder Kevin Nastiuk turned away all 10 shots he faced, while Kowalski stopped all 13 shots taken on him.

The Everblades, who fell to 0-3-0 vs. Gwinnett this season, drew first blood, tallying just 97 seconds into the second period, but Gwinnett closed out the period with three straight goals. Preston Callander got the Everblades off to a 1-0 lead notching his 17^th goal of the season after Mathieu Melanson’s centering pass from the right circle kicked off his leg and into the Gladiator net at 1:33 of the frame. David Cornacchia collected the second assist on the goal.

The Everblade lead held up until the 6:08 mark when Jeff Mason tied the game with his fifth goal of the season. Mason’s shot came from the top of the left circle and sailed past a screened Nastiuk to even the score. The game remained tied 1-1 until the final five minutes of the frame when Gwinnett struck for a pair of quick goals.

The first of the two came with Gwinnett on their third power play of the night. Defenseman Jamie Milam began the play with a shot from the blue line, that was stopped by Nastiuk, but Bryson Buskiuk scooped up the rebound and chipped home his fourth goal of the season at 16:42 . The Gladiators then opened a two-goal lead when Thomas Pospisil weaved through the neutral zone and past the Everlades defense to wrist a shot from the bottom of the left circle over the glove of Nastiuk for a 3-1 Gwinnett lead at 17:04.

The Everblades continued to pressure the Gladiators in the third period, firing 19 shots at Kowalski, but again the Gwinnett net-minder shined, keeping the Everblades off the board. The Gladiators, who were limited to only three shots in the third period, eventually sealed the win with their second power play goal of the night with just 1:39 remaining in regulation. Mike Hamilton recorded his 20^th goal of the season by one-timing a pass by Pospisil from the slot by Nastiuk.

Nastiuk finished the night with 23 saves, but saw his record drop to 4-4-2 .

On the power play, the Everblades closed out the night 0-for-3, while the Gladiators finished the contest 2-for-7. 

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