KUHN: CYCLONES’ DEFENSE TOO MUCH FOR SWAMP RABBITS
Cincinnati holds Greenville to two shots in the third period
BY: Jordan Kuhn, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
CINCINNATI, Ohio — The Greenville Swamp Rabbits attempted to climb back from a two-goal deficit in the third period, but ran into a brick wall defensively. The Cincinnati Cyclones held the Swamp Rabbits to just six shots on goal in the final 40 minutes, and two in the third period alone, and defeated them 4-1 on Friday night.
Two goals on two shots in the opening six minutes of the first period proved costly for Greenville, as they could never regain the momentum.
A misplay between goaltender Ryan Bednard and the defense turned into a goal against. Cody Milan took the puck away on the transfer and banked the puck off of Bednard and into the goal to open the scoring.
49 seconds later, the Cyclones capitalized on an unlucky bounce. The Swamp Rabbits’ defense blocked a shot, but the block went right to Matthew Spencer sitting in the left circle, and his slap shot found the back of the net to double the scoring.
Greenville pushed back late in the first period. A pretty sequence of events led to the Swamp Rabbits’ only goal of the night. Cameron Heath zipped a stretch pass ahead to Karl El-Mir, who directed a pass right on the money to a hard-charging Cédric Lacroix. A fake-out deke rolled off of his tape and through the five-hole of Michael Houser to cut the lead in half.
It was Cincinnati, however, who took the momentum from there. Ben Johnson scored off the rush late in the second period, and Milan put the game away with an empty-net goal.
Neither team could come through on special teams, both teams with two power play opportunities.
The Swamp Rabbits turn around quickly and face off against the Indy Fuel on Saturday, February 29 at 6:05 p.m. Catch the action on the Swamp Rabbits Broadcast Network or on ECHL.TV.
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