Gwinnett Gladiators Fall to Florida Everblades 5-3

The Gwinnett Gladiators (41-19-7-4) dropped a 5-3 decision to the Florida Everblades (38-26-2-5) on Friday (March 30) night at the Germain Arena in Estero, FL. Gwinnett couldn't overcome a 2-0 first period deficit in the loss. 

With the Gladiators losscoupled with a win by the Elmira Jackals, the Gladiators slipped into second place in the ECHL's Eastern Conference.

Florida took a 2-0 lead on the Gladiators through the first 20 minutes with a pair of goals eight minutes apart in the period. Cederic Lalonde-McNicholl jammed the puck past Gladiators netminder Marc Cheverie 5:21 into the first period to open the scoring.  Matt Marquardt and Leigh Salters had the helpers on the goal for the Everblades.

Florida extended its lead just 14 seconds into their first power play chance of the game. Brayden Irwin ripped a one-timer from the left wing circle past Cheverie for the goal. Marquardt collected his second helper of the game for Florida while Chris Murray had another helper on the goal at 13:57 of the first period.

Gwinnett answered in the second period with a pair of power play goals to tie the game at two. Pat Galivan collected his 25th goal of the season as he finished a give-and-go out of the corner with Joey Haddad to get Gwinnett on the board.  Sean Duddy the the assist on the power play goal at 11:30 of the second period.

Duddy then posted his first professional goal a little over two minutes later.  He slid from his point position into the slot and ripped a quick snapshot from point blank range past Everblades netminder John Muse for the goal. Haddad had his second helper of the night while Jackson also chipped in an assist on the goal.

Florida regained the lead with 4:18 left in the second period.  Marquardt added his third point of the game as he tucked the puck up underneath the cross bar to beat Cheverie for the go-ahead goal. Bobby Raymond and Irwin had the assists on the Everblades second power play goal of the game.

The Everblades extended their lead to two goals midway thorough the third period on Irwin's second goal of the game. Cheverie got a piece of Irwin's shot but it just trickled across the line past the Gladiators netmidner for the goal.  Mike Ratchuk had the assist on the goal at 11:02 of the third.

The physical play picked up over the final eight minutes of the third period as Duddy scrapped with Salters at center ice.  The Gladiators finished with a season high 90 penalty minutes in the loss while Florida finished with 28 in the game.

The Gladiators were shorthanded with 7:43 left in the third period when Joey Haddad went end-to-end before he beat Muse on a backhand shot to cut the Florida lead to 4-3.  Andy Brandt collected an assist on the Gladiators goal.

The Gladiators were frantically looking to tie the game late in the third period but Florida put the game away with an empty net goal.  After missing an empty net earlier in the third period, Matt Beca iced it with 44 seconds left in the game as he connected with the wide open net from the left wing circle. 

The Gladiators conclude the regular season on Saturday (March 31) night against the Everblades at the Germain Arena at 7:05 p.m.

The Gladiators are the ECHL Affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres and the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League and are members of the ECHL, the Premier “AA” Hockey League and play all home games at the 11,355-seat , located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.

(Editor's note: This game report provided by the Gwinnett Gladiators.)