BY: Matt Trust, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
Greenville, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits won their first-ever meeting against the Allen Americans by a 4-1 margin on Thursday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The Bits improved to 3-0-0-0 on Thursdays, and Ryan Bednard stopped 42 of 43 shots in net.
In the first period, Greenville grabbed an early advantage at 5:14 of the opening frame. Matt Bradley jammed home the rebound of a Patrick Bajkov drive to the net to put the Swamp Rabbits up 1-0. Shots after the opening period were 13-5 in favor of the Americans.
In the middle frame, Allen equalized the contest at 6:09 courtesy of Corey Mackin’s 11th goal of the campaign. Samuel Laberge won a puck battle along the end wall and centered a pass into Mackin’s wheelhouse between the faceoff circles.
#RABBITSRISING#
The Swamp Rabbits regained the upper hand on the power play from Greg Meireles at 15:37. Meireles went coast to coast and fired a shot over the glove of Americans’ netminder Justin Kapelmaster. Greenville finished the night 1-for-5 on the man-advantage and a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Greenville extended the margin with a third-period shorthanded tally from Joey Haddad. Haddad put away a lively rebound off the end wall into Kapelmaster’s empty cage to give the Swamp Rabbits a 3-1 lead.
Allen pulled Kapelmaster for the 6-on-5 advantage in the final minutes, and Jake Massie converted at 19:41 to finalize the 4-1 scoring line. Samuel Jardine finished with two helpers on the night, and Bednard set a new career-high with 42 saves.
The Swamp Rabbits continue their three-game set with Allen tomorrow night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m.
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ABOUT US
Acquired by Spire Sports + Entertainment (SS+E) in 2020, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits hockey team has provided family-friendly, live entertainment at Bon Secours Wellness Arena since 2010. Formerly the Greenville Road Warriors, the Swamp Rabbits are the highest level professional minor league franchise in South Carolina. The Swamp Rabbits are proud affiliates of the NHL’s Florida Panthers and AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Greenville is a member of the ECHL, Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League. Since the conclusion of the 2019-20 NHL Season, 678 former ECHL players have debuted in the NHL. Nine former Greenville Road Warriors/Swamp Rabbits have later made their NHL debut.
