Hunted to Hunter: Garlent's goal gives 'Blades 3-2 win

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Hunter Garlent scored the go-ahead goal with 8:37 gone in the third period to lift the Florida Everblades to a 3-2 win over the Jacksonville Icemen on Wednesday night at Veterans Memorial Arena.

BOX SCORE

After Jacksonville (7-10-4-0, 18 pts.) tied the score with two goals in the first 7:04 of the third period, Florida (14-7-1-2, 31 pts.) surged ahead on Garlent’s goal — reversed after an official review — only 93 seconds later to grab its second straight win.

The ‘Blades started the scoring with their fourth short-handed goal of the season on their first penalty kill of the game. Patrick McCarron located Joe Pendenza behind the Icemen’s defense and zipped a pass ahead to send him on a breakaway. On the ensuing rush, Pendenza deked and went to his forehand before lifting the puck upstairs on Jacksonville goaltender Adam Carlson with 6:51 left in the first. Florida went ahead by two on captain John McCarron’s sixth goal of the year only 87 seconds into the second. Blake Winiecki started a rush from Florida’s defensive zone with a stretch pass to Logan Roe, who then crossed the Jacksonville blue line and fed McCarron in the corner. McCarron stepped out front and had his first shot stopped by Carlson but immediately jammed the rebound in. Jacksonville scored twice in a span of three minutes, 14 seconds in the early stages of the third period to tie the game. With the puck trickling toward the ‘Blades goal line at the end of Jacksonville’s third power play of the game, Brendan Warren found it and tipped it past Florida goaltender Ken Appleby with 3:50 gone in the third. Pierre-Luc Mercier then tied the score with a goal off the rush at the 7:04 mark of the final frame. But Florida went back ahead, this time for good, less than two minutes later. Defenseman Patrick McCarron stepped up at the blue line to hold the zone for Florida, and Michael Huntebrinker quickly snagged the puck. He dished to Pendenza, and Pendenza found Garlent in the bottom of the left circle. In tight quarters, Garlent snuck the puck upstairs at the far post past Carlson’s glove. Making his third straight start, Appleby finished with 24 saves to earn his ninth win of the season, tying him for the league lead. BLADES BITES

• Joe Pendenza’s short-handed goal was his first career ECHL short-handed tally and the fifth of his pro career.
• With Pendenza’s short-handed strike, the ‘Blades are tied for fifth in the ECHL with four short-handed goals.
• Jacksonville has surrendered an ECHL-high seven shorthanded goals this season.
• Florida has scored first in eight games this season (5-2-0-1) and seven of those eight games have come on the road (5-1-0-1).
• Florida picked up its first win in a Wednesday road game and moved to 1-1-1-1 in Wednesday tilts this season.
• John McCarron’s goal pushed his ECHL career total to 99.
• The Everblades are 50-0-1-0 when leading after two periods over the last two seasons.

 NEXT UPFlorida returns home to start a two-game series with the Kansas City Mavericks on Friday. Faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Hertz Arena.

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The Everblades are the proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators and AHL's Milwaukee Admirals