FOUR-GOAL THIRD SPARKS HUGE COMEBACK WIN

ESTERO, Fla. – The Force was with the Florida Everblades Saturday night at Hertz Arena.

After trailing 3-1 in the third period, the Everblades scored four goals in the final frame, including the game-winner by Colin Theisen with 7:19 to play, and rallied for a thrilling 5-3 victory over the Savannah Ghost Pirates on Star Wars Night Saturday evening at Hertz Arena. A season-high crowd of 7,584 was on hand to revel in the comeback win.

Three Everblades registered multi-point games, led by first star Ben Brar with two goals and Alex Kile, who turned in his first three-point game of the season. Kyle Betts also notched a pair of assists.

Power-play goals were the theme of the first period for both teams. Brar struck gold midway through the Everblades’ first power-play shift of the night, as the good guys took a 1-0 lead at 10:29. Much to the dismay of the capacity crowd, Savannah responded with a pair of late power-play goals by Ross Armour at the 17:07 mark and by former Everblade Nathan Staios with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. Florida trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes despite outshooting the visitors 15-7.

Following a scoreless second period, both teams tacked on goals early in the third from. Devon Paliani extended the Stingrays’ lead to 3-1 just two minutes into the third frame. 

After Savannah pulled ahead by two goals, The Force reared its beautiful head at The Swamp.

First, the Everblades rallied to tie the game at 3-3 with a pair of goals in a 2:28 span. Kile stopped the string of South Carolina goal just over with his seventh goal of the season at 6:42, while Jesse Lansdell tied the contest with his eighth of the year at the 9:10 mark.

Then, Theisen gave put the Blades ahead for good, 4-3, with just over seven minutes to play, while Brar tacked on his second goal of the game to close out the scoring with just over two minutes to play.

Goaltender Cam Johnson made 22 saves and earned the victory for Florida, while former Everblade Evan Cormier stopped 33 shots and suffered the loss.

Following the upcoming ECHL All-Star Break, the Everblades will hit the road for three games in three days, visiting the South Carolina Stingrays on Friday, January 24, followed by a pair of contests in Savannah on Saturday, January 25 and Sunday, January 26.

The Everblades return to The Swamp on Friday, January 31 for a meeting with the Orlando Solar Bears at 7:30 p.m., the first of a three-game set between the clubs that moves to Orlando for games on Saturday, February 1 and Sunday, February 2.  Friday’s game will be Affiliation Night as the Blades pay tribute to our new NHL affiliate, the St. Louis Blues. The Everblades will don specialty uniforms that will be made available by auction. Fans can take advantage of a special 239 Friday deal and pickup up two tickets, a souvenir program and two pretzels for the special price of $39. Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

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BLADES BITS

Everblades Head Coach and General Manager Brad Ralph coached his 1,000^th career regular-season game Saturday night. The ECHL’s all-time winningest postseason coach with 95 Kelly Cup Playoff victories, Ralph has been behind the Blades bench for exactly 600 regular-season contests dating back to the 2016-17 season. Previously, Ralph piloted the SPHL’s Augusta RiverHawks for 112 games (2010-12), the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads for 216 games (2012-15) and the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets for 72 contests (2015-26).

Ben Brar snapped a three-game scoreless streak with his sixth and seventh goals of the season. Brar’s first-period power play goal gave the Everblades at least one man-up goal in four straight games, one shy of the team’s five-game string with at least one power-play tally from November 30 through December 1. The two-goal game was Brar’s second of the season.

Alex Kile, Jesse Lansdell and Colin Theisen each joined Brar with third-period goals, with Kile adding two assists for his first three-point game of the season. Theisen scored for the second straight night, while Lansdell scored for the second time in the last three games.

Jordan Sambrook continues to sizzle from the blue line, as his first-period assist was the defenseman’s 12^th

point (5G, 7A) in his last 11 games dating back to the team’s 2-1 win over Orlando on December 27. Prior to that run, Sambrook had just nine points in his first 26 games, all by way of the assist.

The Everblades improved to 17-3 in games in which they have scored at least one power-play goal, including an 11-2 mark at Hertz Arena.

Savannah entered Saturday’s contest with a 14-0-1-0 mark when leading after two periods. The Everblades handed the Ghost Pirates their first regulation loss of the season when leading after 40 minutes.

Saturday night’s season-high crowd of 7,584 was the Everblades ninth sellout crowd in 18 openings at Hertz Arena this season, as exactly half of the team’s home games at The Swamp this season have been played in front of a full house.

Saturday Night’s Scoresheet

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