'Blades ice Jacksonville's offense in 3-0 win

ESTERO, Fla. — Jeremy Helvig stopped all 20 shots he faced and Joe Cox, Blake Winiecki and John McCarron all registered multiple points to lead the Florida Everblades to a 3-0 win over the Jacksonville Icemen on Friday night at Hertz Arena.

BOX SCORE

In the first of three straight games with Jacksonville (23-17-1-1, 48 pts.), the Everblades (29-8-5-0, 63 pts.) scored once in each period and held the Icemen without a quality scoring chance through two periods to earn their fifth win of the season series in eight tries.  

Helvig earned his 14th win and third shutout of the season, stopping 11 shots in the third period to preserve his third blank slate over his last four starts. The win for Helvig extended his personal win streak to 11 games.

The ‘Blades got on the board early with a goal from Michael Neville at 3:24 of the first period. Joe Cox set up the play by squeezing into the zone down the right-wing wall, which set up a two-on-one rush. As the two crossed the circles, Cox chipped a pass over to Neville at the back post for the dunk into the back of the twine for his sixth goal of the season.

Cox added a goal to double the Blades lead 1:22 into the second period. He snuck in behind the defense in the neutral zone, and Winiecki sprung him on a breakaway with a stretch pass from the ‘Blades defensive zone. Cox fooled Berdin with a deke for the goal, his 18th of the season.

Winiecki capped the scoring 4:03 into the third period for his sixth multi-point game of the season. Blades’ captain John McCarron won an offensive zone faceoff back to Winiecki at the top of the circle, and Winiecki curled and ripped a shot past the blocker side of Berdin.

Jacksonville made a last-ditch effort to spoil Helvig’s shutout. After the Blades took a penalty with 1:33 remaining in regulation, the Icemen pulled Berdin. But it would be to no avail, as Florida’s defense and Helvig held strong to secure the seventh win in the last eight games.

Florida now travels to Jacksonville for a Saturday night matchup at Veterans Memorial Arena. Faceoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET.

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The Everblades are the proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes