Florida sweeps weekend set
BY: Jordan Kuhn, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
ESTERO, Fla. — Beset by four unanswered goals by the Florida Everblades, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits struggled to claw back in the game and dropped a 5-1 decision on Saturday night at Hertz Arena.
Florida opened the scoring again in the early portion of the first period and never looked back. Joe Pendenza received a pass from circle to circle by the Swamp Rabbits’ menace, Justin Auger, and Greenville trailed 1-0 at the 3:23 mark of the first.
John McCarron scored one of two shorthanded goals for the Everblades on the night. Sent on a 2-on-1 break by Michael Huntebrinker on a Greenville turnover, McCarron finished the play on the backhand past a sliding Jeremy Helvig to double the lead.
Helvig saved Greenville’s bacon earlier in the first period with a sensational glove save, as the Swamp Rabbits fought through 1:50 of 5-on-3 penalty killing time. But Florida never relented, and their pressure extended into the second period as well.
Huntebrinker added on with a shorthanded goal of his own on another Greenville turnover, as he finished off the play on a one-timer from the right circle to add on. Blake Winiecki scored one of his two goals on the night just 59 seconds later to extend the ‘Blades’ lead to its largest.
Greenville fought back in the third period and gained some traction. Eventually, that traction broke through. Lukas Craggs sat in the penalty box for cross-checking, and the power play made them pay. Patrick Bajkov entered the attacking zone and was poke checked, but the loose puck found Nathan Perkovich, who snapped a shot home that cut the lead to 4-1.
It was Perkovich’s 15th tally of the season. Chad Duchesne also added an assist on the goal.
Winiecki capped off the scoring for Florida at the 10:46 mark of the third period after Helvig made two remarkable, back-to-back saves. The puck pinballed around off of Greenville skates, and Winiecki skated onto the puck and snapped it five-hole to cap off the scoring.
Ken Appleby made 24 saves for his third win against Greenville this season. Florida outshot Greenville 35-25 in their winning effort.
The Swamp Rabbits will take the week to rest up and then head to Jacksonville to take on the Icemen for Valentine’s Day showdown at 7:00 p.m. Catch the action on the Swamp Rabbits Broadcast Network, or on ECHL.TV.
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