BY: Matt Trust, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
Greenville, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits snapped its three-game overtime losing skid and extended their point streak to seven in a 5-4 overtime win at South Carolina on Friday night.
Greenville would open the night’s scoring with Bryce Reddick tallying on a rebound with his first goal as a Swamp Rabbit at the 5:02 mark of the first period. Reddick’s goal marked his first ECHL tally since March 2013 with the Las Vegas Wranglers.
The Swamp Rabbits extended their early lead with Max Zimmer racing along the left-wing and beating Alex Dubeau five-hole to double his team’s lead with 4:40 left in the first period. With time running out in the opening period, South Carolina’s Mark Cooper fired a wrist shot just inside the blue line. Cooper’s shot hit a Greenville defender and beat Ryan Bednard to cut Greenville’s lead to 2-1.
Next period, on Greenville’s second power play of the night, Swamp Rabbit newcomers Jacob Hayhurst and Luc Brown connected. Hayhurst fired a pass from the right circle with Brown redirecting past Dubeau to put Greenville ahead 3-1 at the 1:27 mark of the second period.
Just over a minute later, Stingrays forward Cameron Askew ripped a shot from the right circle to again cut the Greenville lead to one with 17:08 left in the period. Greenville restored their two-goal lead on the power play with Greg Meireles beating Dubeau from the high-slot at the 8:44 mark of the second frame. South Carolina again tallied late by scoring in the final minute of the middle period. Dylan Steman capitalized after burying a pass from Andrew Cherniwchan from beneath the goal line into an open net at 19:51.
FINAL PERIOD
In the final period, South Carolina equalized early in the stanza to knot the score at 4-4. Darien Craighead found a rebound at the net-front at the 7:24 mark of the third period. For the fourth consecutive game, overtime was required to decide an outcome.
In sudden-death, both teams traded chances, with Greenville getting the last laugh. At 3:49 of three-on-three, Bednard denied a South Carolina 2-on-1 rush, and Samuel Jardine turned the rebound into a stretch pass for Matt Bradley. Bradley beat Dubeau out of his net on a race to a loose puck, allowing Bradley to score the overtime winner into an empty cage.
The 5-4 overtime win improved Greenville’s record to 4-3-3-1 on the season. The Swamp Rabbits finished the night 2-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill. The final shots on goal were 34-29 in favor of South Carolina.
The Swamp Rabbits and Stingrays will rematch tomorrow, Saturday, January 16, at 6:05 p.m. at the North Charleston Coliseum. Greenville will conclude their weekend the following afternoon with a 3:05 p.m. matinee against the Jacksonville Icemen at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Ticket information is available for Sunday’s game online at swamprabbits.com.
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