In a high-scoring affair, the South Carolina Stingrays never trailed and scored a season-high seven times to defeat the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, 7-5, on Saturday night at the North Charleston Coliseum in front of 5,369 fans.
South Carolina (29-17-1-0) wasted no time opening the scoring as Nolan Krenzen found the back of the net just 4:38 into the game, giving the Stingrays a 1-0 lead. Three minutes later, Greenville (19-20-4-1) answered, tying the game less than seven-and-a-half minutes in.
The Stingrays responded quickly, scoring twice within 20 seconds to take a 3-1 lead just 8:21 into regulation. The Swamp Rabbits cut the deficit in half with 4:53 left in the frame, but South Carolina took a 3-2 lead into the second period.
Greenville tied the game on the power play early in the middle frame, but South Carolina responded quickly to reclaim the lead. Connor Mayer scored his first goal as a Stingray with 13:05 remaining in the period, and Josh Wilkins added another less than a minute later.
Leading 5-3, South Carolina tried to pull away, but the Swamp Rabbits answered each time. Ryan O’Hara scored with 8:28 left in the second period to cut the Stingrays’ lead to one, 5-4.
After O’Hara’s goal, Lynden Breen scored with 5:35 remaining in the second period to restore the Stingrays’ two-goal lead, 6-4, which they carried into the third.
O’Hara scored his second of the night three minutes into the final frame, pulling Greenville within one, and the Swamp Rabbits pressed for the equalizer. With 4:01 left in regulation, Greenville went to a 5-on-3 power play. The Stingrays’ penalty kill stood tall, killing off both penalties to preserve the 6-5 lead.
Just after the kill, South Carolina again was called for a penalty with 1:52 left. Greenville pulled its netminder to bring out the extra-attacker, but D.J. King scored an empty-net goal with 22 seconds remaining to ice the 7-5 victory for the Stingrays over the Swamp Rabbits.
Seth Eisele, who took over in net during the second period, stopped 19 of 20 shots to earn his 11th win of the season. Breen, King, Wilkins, Simon Pinard and Patrick Thomas all had multi-point nights while 12 different Stingrays tallied at least one point in the victory.