BY: Matt Trust, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
Greenville, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits secured two points over the South Carolina Stingrays by a final score of 4-2 on Friday night at the North Charleston Coliseum. Liam Pecararo notched two goals in the contest and Ryan Bednard made 23 saves for his league-leading 19th wins of the season.
In the first period, the Swamp Rabbits broke the ice at the 9:54 mark courtesy of Max Zimmer’s 14th goal of the season. Zimmer picked up a loose puck in neutral ice and raced into the Stingrays zone. Zimmer fired a bullet past Rays’ goaltender Alex Dubeau to provide his club a 1-0 cushion. Shots after the 20 minutes were 9-8 in favor of South Carolina.
In the middle frame, South Carolina equalized the contest at 4:53 from Justin Florek. On a 3-on-1 rush, Florek finished a give-and-go play with Andrew Cherniwchan and fired the puck past Bednard from a sharp angle.
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Greenville regained the advantage at 2-1 courtesy of Patrick Bajkov on the power play at 8:39. From the right circle, Bajkov fired a quick wrister through traffic and past Dubeau to restore his team’s lead.
The Stingrays answered Bajkov’s tally with a power play marker of their own only 1:57 later. Cherniwchan found a loose puck at the goalmouth and deposited it past Bednard to tie the game at 2-2.
In the third period, Greenville struck again on the man-advantage with Pecararo’s 12th goal of the season at 4:16. Pecararo corralled a Samuel Jardine feed at the left circle and blasted a howitzer top-shelf past Dubeau to restore Greenville’s lead for the third time.
With 1:05 remaining, Pecararo sealed the 4-2 victory for Greenville with an empty-net tally and his second of the night. Final shots finished 35-25 in favor of the Bits. The Rabbits went 2-for-7 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill en route to their 24th victory of the campaign.
The Greenville Swamp Rabbits return to action on Saturday, April 24, and continue their current three-game set versus South Carolina. Puck drop from the North Charleston Coliseum is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
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ABOUT US
Acquired by Spire Sports + Entertainment (SS+E) in 2020, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits hockey team has been providing 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.
