In the final game of a three-game weekend, the South Carolina Stingrays fell to the Florida Everblades, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon at the North Charleston Coliseum in front of 5,201 fans.
Florida (25-8-4-1) opened the scoring quickly in the first period. Zach Berzolla scored less than two minutes in, giving the visitors an early 1-0 lead. South Carolina (25-14-1-0) answered less than five minutes later.
Ryan Hofer banked a pass from the defensive zone to a cutting Simon Pinard, who beat Everblades goaltender Will Cranley over the glove to tie the game at one. After the early flurry of scoring, Cranley and Stingrays netminder Mitch Gibson kept both attacks at bay, keeping the game tied at one heading into the second period.
In the middle frame, the Everblades struck while on the penalty kill. Anthony Romano put Florida back in front 4:19 into the second period, 2-1. Just under seven minutes later, Oliver Chau converted on the power play to double the Everblades’ advantage, 3-1. The Stingrays responded late in the second period, as Josh Wilkins punched home his own rebound with 5:29 left to cut the deficit to one, 3-2.
Florida carried a one-goal lead into the final frame, but South Carolina erased the deficit just over six minutes into the third period. Pinard netted his second goal of the day on a one-timer, tying the game at three with 13:37 left in regulation.
Following Pinard’s goal, Ben Brar restored the Everblades’ lead with 7:19 left in the period, and South Carolina could not answer. Florida added an empty-net goal with 1:51 remaining and tacked on another insurance marker to defeat the Stingrays, 6-3.
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South Carolina returns to the North Charleston Coliseum on Friday, January 30, against the Jacksonville Icemen at 7:05 p.m. for Video Game Night. The full schedule can be viewed on our website here.
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