The South Carolina Stingrays dropped the first of three straight meetings with the Savannah Ghost Pirates, 6-3, on Friday evening at the North Charleston Coliseum in front of 4,534 fans.
After a slow start offensively for both sides, Savannah (17-13-2-1) struck first just over the midway mark of the 1st period. Keaton Pehrson opened the scoring at the 10:07 mark giving the Ghost Pirates a 1-0 lead. 15 seconds later, South Carolina (22-12-1-0) answered. Josh Wilkins wired home a shot from the slot tying the game at one with 9:38 left in the opening frame. Neither side mustered many chances after the two goals and went to the 1st intermission tied.
In the 2nd period, the Stingrays had the better of the chances early, but could not break through to take the lead. With under nine minutes left in the period, the Ghost Pirates took control. Matt Koopman scored putting the visitors back in front, 2-1. Less than three minutes later, Nicholas Zabaneh doubled the advantage for Savannah on a 2-on-1 opportunity, making it 3-1.
The Stingrays again found a response quickly. Less than a minute later, Patrick Guzzo snuck home his fourth goal of the season cutting the deficit to one, 3-2. After the goal from Guzzo, the Ghost Pirates responded with two more goals in the next three minutes to take a 5-2 lead to the 3rd period.
Across the final 20 minutes, South Carolina looked to rally but had multiple high percentage chances stopped in the first few minutes of the frame. South Carolina found life in the late stages of the 3rd period. With less than six minutes remaining in regulation, Dean Loukus knocked home a rebound, cutting the Savannah lead to two, 5-3. The goal from Loukus was the only offense the Stingrays generated in the period as the Ghost Pirates scored an empty-net goal with five seconds remaining to cap off the 6-3 victory over South Carolina.