Tied at three in the third period, Justin Nachbaur tapped home the go-ahead goal with 9:27 left in regulation. Casey McDonald then iced the game with an empty-net goal in the final minutes as the South Carolina Stingrays beat the Allen Americans, 5-3, on Friday evening at the North Charleston Coliseum in front of 4,201 fans.
South Carolina (39-18-1-2) acquired forward Anthony Rinaldi on Tuesday and the newcomer wasted no time making his mark in North Charleston. Rinaldi netted a 2-on-1 opportunity 3:48 into the first period putting the Stingrays ahead, 1-0.
Leading early, South Carolina went to the penalty kill minutes later. Allen (32-22-5-0) found a response on the man advantage. Danny Katic deflected a shot from the point, tying the game at one with 13 minutes remaining.
The Stingrays got their own opportunity on the man-advantage in the final four minutes of the first and capitalized. Simon Pinard sniped his 23rd goal of the season with 3:03 left in the frame, putting South Carolina back ahead, 2-1.
In the middle frame, Allen had two power plays but the Stingrays penalty kill stood tall, denying every chance. With just over five minutes left in the period and a delayed penalty against South Carolina, Kevin Gursoy tied the game with a one-timer, sending the sides to the third knotted at two.
Over six minutes into the final frame, the Stingrays went back to the power play and struck again. Stevie Leskovar scored his first as a Stingray but the lead was short-lived. Colby McAuley tied the game at three only 20 seconds later, but in a back-and-forth contest, South Carolina had the final push.
With less than ten minutes remaining, Bryan Moore found Justin Nachbaur at the top of the crease, who knocked home his first goal of the season giving South Carolina a 4-3 lead.
As time wound down, Allen pulled its netminder for the extra attacker trying to tie the game, but Casey McDonald let a shot go from the defensive zone that trickled into the empty net for his first professional goal and sealing the 5-3 win for South Carolina.
Alexis Gravel got the win in net for the Stingrays saving 28 of 31 shots. Rinaldi, McDonald and Kyler Kupka had multi-point nights as ten different Stingrays recorded at least a point in the win.