The Stingrays earned a 5-2 victory over the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in front of 5,000+ fans at the North Charleston Coliseum on Friday night. Jon McDonald, Erik Middendorf (2), Josh Wilkins, and Jamie Engelbert scored for the Stingrays, while Mitchell Gibson made 26 saves on 28 shots in the win.
The score was deadlocked at zero until 13:02 into the opening frame when McDonald buried his second goal of the season off a feed from Jayden Lee. Wilkins picked up the secondary assist on the tally. Middendorf doubled the Stingray lead 41 seconds later when he knocked in the loose puck in front of the net.
South Carolina added to their lead 5:23 into the second period when Wilkins buried his second power-play goal in two games. He one-timed a cross-ice feed from Alexander Suzdalev into the open net to triple South Carolina’s advantage.
Middendorf made it 4-0 with a wrist shot from the left circle five minutes later. Seven minutes later, Engelbert knocked in a power play goal to extend South Carolina’s lead to 5-0. The goal extended Engelbert's point streak to 12 games.
Greenville carried the play in the third period and outshot the Rays 19-6. The Swamp Rabbits got goals from Bryce Brodzinski and Tate Singleton, but the Stingrays held on to win 5-2.
The Stingrays return to action this Sunday afternoon to face the Orlando Solar Bears at 3:00 pm at the Kia Center in Orlando.
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