Greenville earns a standings point in the loss
BY: Jordan Kuhn, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Greenville Swamp Rabbits held a lead in the first period, lost the lead, and dragged the game into overtime, but the Atlanta Gladiators were one goal better in the extra session, as the Swamp Rabbits fell 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at the Infinite Energy Arena.
Scott Conway’s snipe at the 2:44 mark of overtime in the midst of the Gladiators’ seventh power play of the afternoon gave the Gladiators the win, as the puck sailed over the shoulder of goaltender Jake Kupsky.
Greenville started the game on a tear, scoring twice in the opening ten minutes of the first period.
Chris Nell spat out a rebound on a shot attempt by Luke Ripley, and as John Furgele picked up the long rebound off of the pads from the right point, his shot was tipped into the goal by Nathan Perkovich to open the scoring.
The veteran forward added on one more at the 8:41 mark, off of another crazy rebound. Cédric Lacroix dumped the puck in front center, and the high bounce kicked off of Nell’s pads into the slot. Michael Pelech was denied on the first opportunity, but Perkovich followed up to cash in.
Atlanta took control of the game late in the first period. First, Zach Malatesta scored to halve the lead in the final minute, and just moments later, it appeared that Luke Nogard tied the game with just seconds left in the period, but after further review, the goal was taken away.
Malatesta got that goal back anyway on a carryover power play into the second period, his second of the day.
The third period created intrigue, as both teams exchanged goals, but it was the Gladiators who struck to completely erase Greenville’s advantage. Luke Nogard pounced on a Greenville mistake in the defensive zone and zipped a shot into the back of the net to grab the lead.
Thankfully, the Swamp Rabbits’ PK was up to the task and generated a goal. Pelech broke free with Ripley on a two-on-one break, and Ripley made no mistake for his second goal of the season to tie the game.
The Swamp Rabbits outshot the Gladiators in all three periods of regulation and led in the shot count 35-33. However, they were unable to tally on the power play on seven opportunities. Atlanta did so on two of seven, in a game that saw 19 penalties called.
The Swamp Rabbits return to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Wednesday, February 26 for the final Winning Wednesday game of the season against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Tickets are available at SwampRabbits.com.
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