The Greenville Road Warriors knocked off the Florida Everblades for the second straight game with a 6-3 win on Friday Night. The win improved the Road Warriors to 6-3-1 on the season.
In a first period that was marred by penalties and defensively oriented goals were hard to come by. The Road Warriors, though, would be the first to break through. Julien Brouillette took a nice feed from Connor Shields and slipped it past Florida goalie Bobby Goepfert glove side to give the Road Warriors a 1-0 in the first. Sean Berkstesser and Shields recorded assists on the goal which came with 2:17 left in the first.
Capitalizing on the momentum at the end of the first, the Road Warriors came out firing in the second period. Mark Voakes opened the scoring with a 5-on-3 power play goal six minutes into the frame. His third goal of the year extended the Road Warriors lead to 2-0. Voakes punched it past Goepfert after a back-door feed from Justin Bowers. Marc Olivier-Vallerand also recorded an assist on the play. Voakes returned the favor as the Road Warriors extended their lead to 3-0 on a Bowers power play goal at 11:47. Brouillette picked up his second point of the night with an assist on the play.
Both teams went goal crazy in the third with three a piece. The flood gates opened when Greenville’s Brendan Connolly picked up his fifth of the year at 2:12 on Shane Harper‘s first assist of the night to put the Road Warriors up 4-0. T.J. Reynolds also recorded an assist on the play. The Everblades finally got dented Greenville’s lead at 5:26 when Phil Paquet slipped a wrist shot past Dov Grumet-Morris to trim the lead to 4-1. Brandon Wong scored his first professional goal at 6:47 to push the lead back to four as the Road Warriors went up 5-1. Harper recorded his second assist on the night. Connolly followed Wong’s score with his second goal of the night at 11:29 to push the lead to five on Harper’s third assist of the evening. Wong also registered an assist on the play, his second point of the night. Florida didn’t lay down as Mitch Fadden scored on the power play at 16:32 to cut the Road Warriors lead to four. Francis Lemieux capped the scoring at 18:44 with a shot through Grumet-Morris’ five-hole, but Florida’s comeback bid died there.
Grumet-Morris earned his first win of the season as he stopped 29 out of 32 shots. Greenville ended the night 2-for-6 on the power play with both goals coming in the second period and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors finish off their three-game set against Florida tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. The Road Warriors will honor first responders (EMTs, paramedics, police officers, and firefighters) with an offer of free admission to the game. First responders can cash in on this offer by presenting valid ID at the BI-LO Center Box Office. Good seats remain but are going fast. To order yours visit the BI-LO Center Box Office, call Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or visit www.ticketmaster.com.
