Dryden McKay leads the way with 36 saves; Young and Moynihan each notch two points
By: Mark Binetti, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
(GREENVILLE, S.C.) – Carter Savoie’s late third-period strike went from providing breathing room to providing the win for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, who defeated the in-state rival South Carolina Stingrays on Friday night by a 3-2 score on “Project Search Night,” presented by Bon Secours. Additionally powered by 36 saves from Dryden McKay and two-point nights from Colton Young (1g-1ast) and Patrick Moynihan (2ast), the Swamp Rabbits earned their first win of the season, also serving as the first career win for Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Kyle Mountain.
The Swamp Rabbits opened up the scoring entries for a second game in the season. Just 48 seconds into the game, Colton Young retrieved the puck on a hard forecheck in the corner and found Patrick Moynihan up the left-wing wall. Moynihan connected with Russell, who unloaded a blue-line shot that deflected off of a body and past Garin Bjorklund in the net for South Carolina, putting the Swamp Rabbits up 1-0 early (Moynihan and Young assisted). South Carolina answered minutes later with a blue-liner goal of their own from Andrew Perrott. With 9:00 gone by, Perrott collected the puck inside the attacking blue line and utilized a ton of real estate in his vicinity. He crept in and rifled a shot through traffic that beat Dryden McKay’s blocker to square the game at 1-1 (Austin Magera and Jamie Engelbert assisted).
Colton Young re-established the Swamp Rabbits’ lead early in the second with a highly skilled sequence, which kept the team ahead for the majority of regulation from there on out. At 5:05, Moynihan linked with Young on a “Hail Mary” pass up the ice, with Young behind the defense and in zone uncontested. Young out-deked Bjorklund and finished with a five-hole tuck to push Greenville to a 2-1 lead (Moynihan and Ben Freeman assisted). Moments later, McKay faced a two-on-none South Carolina break and masterfully saved it to maintain the Swamp Rabbits lead.
The game remained 2-1 for Greenville until the final four minutes when Carter Savoie cashed in for his first Swamp Rabbits goal, initially providing Greenville with some relief on the scoreboard. With 3:10 left in regulation, Bryce Brodzinski found Savoie on the opposite side of the neutral zone, followed by the latter seeing a light burst of speed. Savoie cut down the right side of the zone and fired a laser past Bjorklund’s glove to vault the Swamp Rabbits to a 3-1 lead (Brodzinski and Joe Leahy assisted). Tate Singleton, who made his Swamp Rabbits debut, thought he would put the game away with an empty netter due to South Carolina pulling Bjorklund for another skater, but a slashing call in front of the open net wasn’t made. Instead, the Stingrays came back the other way and got some life from Micah Miller, who potted a goal in point-blank range of the net past a sprawled-out McKay, closing the gap to 3-2 with 18 seconds remaining (Magera and Blake Thompson assisted). The Swamp Rabbits weathered the storm and pulled away with their first win of the year, 3-2, over their in-state rivals.
Dryden McKay earned his first win of the season, shining in his second game with 36 saves on 38 shots (1-0-1-0).
The Swamp Rabbits rematch the Stingrays at North Charleston Coliseum tomorrow night, October 26th. Saturday’s puck drop is slated for 6:05 pm EST.
About the Greenville Swamp Rabbits …
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 the proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s LA Kings and the AHL’s Ontario Reign. Greenville is an ECHL Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League member.
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