McKay stops 47 of 49, and Greenville’s power play goes 2/4 in a major response win.
By: Mark Binetti, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
(GREENVILLE, S.C.) – Stuart Rolofs and Bryce Brodzinski broke a scoreless deadlock with back-to-back power play goals, but Dryden McKay’s 47 saves on 49 shots, including 20 saves in the final period, powered the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to a 3-2 win against the Florida Everblades on Sunday afternoon. The win gives the Swamp Rabbits a split of their weekend series.
In a much different turn of events than last night’s counterpart, the Swamp Rabbits responded by skating into the first intermission with a 0-0 deadlock. Will Cranley, manning the Everblades net, staved away 13 Swamp Rabbits shots, while Dryden McKay, minding the Swamp Rabbits cage, denied 16 towards his net.
Eventually, Swamp Rabbits’ special teams broke the deadlock and powered the hosts to a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Carter Savoie drew a significant penalty from Craig Needham, who kneed him in neutral ice with 8:24 left in the second frame. Needham was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct, putting the Swamp Rabbits on the man advantage for five minutes. Eventually, Stuart Rolofs broke the scoreless deadlock with 6:07 left in the second, redirecting a Bobby Russell blue line shot to give the Swamp Rabbits a 1-0 lead (Russell and Colton Young assisted). At the end of the period, Connor Doherty slashed McKay’s glove after he made a save, which put the Swamp Rabbits back to the power play. Bryce Brodzinski cashed in before the end of the frame, rifling a wrist shot past Cranley’s blocker from the left side to double the Swamp Rabbits advantage to 2-0 with 53.8 seconds left in the middle act (Tate Singleton and Dru Krebs assisted).
Carter Savoie added more separation before the halfway point of the third, but Florida pushed back with a 22-shot barrage in the last 20 minutes. Savoie tripled the Swamp Rabbits lead to 3-0 with a shot in the top corner over Cranley’s blocker shoulder with 13:33 left in regulation (Ben Freeman and Tate Singleton assisted). The Everblades finally got their first goal with 9:53 remaining in regulation when Ben Brar poked home his first ECHL goal on a transition down the ice, slipping it past McKay cut the deficit to 3-1 (Mike O’Leary and Tyler Kobryn assisted). With 3:58 left in the game, the Swamp Rabbits attempted to get the puck out of their zone, but the puck deflected off of Jordan Sambrook to Colin Theisen, who backhanded a shot over McKay’s shoulder from the slot to close the gap to 3-2 (Sambrook assisted). McKay and the Swamp Rabbits locked it down defensively for the rest of the game, finishing off a 20-save frame to push the Swamp Rabbits to their 3-2 win and a split of the weekend slate.
Dryden McKay stopped a season-high 47 shots on 49 attempts to earn his third win (3-3-1-0). He’s played in all but two games this season.
The Swamp Rabbits now gear up for a “three-in-three” this weekend against three opponents, beginning with the South Carolina Stingrays. Puck drop for Friday, November 22nd, is slated for 7:05 p.m. EST at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
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.
