Behind a 40 save performance by netminder Ty Taylor and a pair of goals from both Jalen Luypen and Kaden Bohlsen, the South Carolina Stingrays beat the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon at the North Charleston Coliseum in front of 3,272 fans.
Coming off a loss on Saturday night, South Carolina (13-8-1-0) needed a jump start, but it did not come offensively, but rather from goaltender Ty Taylor, who the Stingrays signed today. Taylor saw six shots in the 1st period saving all six, while South Carolina offensively pressed for the opening goal. On the other end, Greenville (9-9-2-0) goaltender, Mattias Shole, blanked the Stingrays in the opening 20 minutes keeping the game scoreless going to the 2nd period.
Within the first minute of the middle frame, the Swamp Rabbits drew a penalty shot but Taylor was up for the task, stopping Patrick Polino’s attempt. 27 seconds later, the offense repaid him. Connor Moore, who was playing in his 300th game with South Carolina, delivered a centering pass to Jalen Luypen who tapped home the opener, putting the Stingrays ahead, 1-0. The Stingrays added to their advantage eight minutes later with Moore again finding Luypen at the back post, doubling the lead for South Carolina, 2-0.
South Carolina was not done yet. Simon Pinard blew by a Swamp Rabbits defenseman and beat Shole to build the lead to three with 5:16 left in the 2nd period. A few minutes later, the Stingrays went on a 5-on-3 power play and Kaden Bohlsen blasted home his ninth goal of the season giving the Stingrays a 4-0 lead. Taylor had to work hard in the 2nd period, as he stopped all 16 shots from Greenville and kept the 4-0 lead intact heading to the 3rd period.
In the final 20 minutes, Greenville pressed and eventually snuck a goal past Taylor 2:36 into the period, but that was the only time the Swamp Rabbits could figure the netminder out. Taylor saved 18 shots in the 3rd period, the most by a Stingrays goalie in a single period this season. While Taylor was stellar in net, Bohlsen got his second goal of the game on an empty-net goal, closing out the win for South Carolina over Greenville, 5-1.
Taylor earned his second win of his ECHL career saving 40 shots on 41 attempts, while Luypen, Moore, Pinard, Bohlsen and Romain Rodzinski all had multi-point days. In the win, Moore became only the tenth player in Stingrays franchise history to play in 300 games with the organization.