TRUST: RABBITS RALLY LATE, WIN IN OT OVER RAYS
BY: Matt Trust, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
Greenville, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits erased a late 3-2 deficit with a 6-on-4 power play goal before winning in overtime, 4-3, over the South Carolina Stingrays on Thursday night.
After a scoreless first period, South Carolina’s Dan DeSalvo notch the contest’s first goal at 9:16 of the middle frame. DeSalvo raced up the left-wing on the 2-on-1 rush and fired a shot bar-down on Greenville netminder Ryan Bednard to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.
The Stingrays doubled their lead on the power play at the 17:15 mark of the period. Stingrays forward Graham Knott tipped a low shot at the net-front past Bednard to provide a 2-0 advantage.
Only 20 seconds later, Greenville’s Patrick Bajkov cut the Rabbits’ deficit to one. Bajkov fired a shot from the center point to beat Stingrays goaltender Jake Kupsky.
ERASING A DEFICIT
Greenville managed to completely erase their 2-0 deficit before the second intermission. Down 2-1, Jacob Hayhurst converted a South Carolina defensive zone turnover into his first professional goal at 19:16.
Hayhurst ripped a shot from the right circle to beat Kupsky.
Early in the third period at the 1:13 mark, South Carolina found the go-ahead tally. DeSalvo potted his second goal of the evening to provide his club a 3-2 lead.
Last Sunday, the Swamp Rabbits scored in the final minute on a 6-on-4 power play chance to force overtime. Tonight, the opportunity once against presented itself after Justin Florek was whistled for delay of game at 19:06. After Head Coach Andrew Lord used his lone timeout, Greenville again found the late equalizer with 28.3 seconds left in the third period. Bajov rang the iron, but Matt Bradley put away the rebound to tie the game at 3-3.
OVERTIME
In overtime, Max Zimmer raced into the South Carolina zone along the right-wing and snapped home the game-winner at 2:56. Greenville improved their record to 7-4-5-2 on the season and split the home-and-home with the Stingrays.
The Swamp Rabbits return to action on Saturday night and battle the Jacksonville Icemen at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The puck drops at 7 p.m.
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