Glads Defeat Rabbits 3-2

Taking on the Swamp Rabbits for the first time since a preseason home game on October 11th, the Gladiators rolled to a 3-2 victory in Greenville on Friday night. Greenville came out strong and scored on their first shot of the game 3:02 into the first period. Jack Combs found a wide-open Ryan Rashid on the nearside who fired a shot into the top of the net past the Gladiators starting goalie Matt Ginn. With the assist on Rashids second of the season, Combs extended his point scoring streak to 14 games dating back to last season and increased his team lead in points to seven. Atlanta equaled the score with just :46 seconds left in the opening period. Derek Nesbitt collected a rebound from a Thomas Frazee attempt and slammed a slap shot in past the sprawling Swamp Rabbit netminder Alan York. The captain earned his fourth goal in as many games on the powerplay notch. Nesbitt put the Gladiators ahead and increased his team lead in goals on an early second period tally. Atlanta took advantage of the 5-on-3 powerplay as they worked the puck back and forth across the ice and concluded the play with a Higgs pass to Nesbitt on the near side. The Seaforth, ON native one-timed the puck into the goal for his second of the evening. Atlanta scored their third powerplay goal of the game and increased their lead to 3-1 on Zach Yuens first of the season. Yuen sent a shot in from the point that was re-directed in front by a Greenville defender into the net. Nunn with the primary assist now has earned a point in every game this season. Nesbitt started the play from the corner and received credit for the secondary assist which gave him his third point of the night and team-leading ninth point of the season. Greenville cut the lead to one 2:52 into the third period. Former Gladiator, Rob Kwiet propelled a shot from the point that was stopped by Ginn but was then put in on the rebound in front by Brain Hart. The second goal on the year for Hart was also assisted by Michael St. Croix. A flurry of shots in the last minute by Greenville in an effort to tie the game was not enough as the Gladiators held on for the 3-2 road victory. With their first win on the road this year, Atlanta improved to 3-2-1 on the season and jumped to seven points. Greenville after the loss fell to 3-2-0 and remained at six points. Photo Courtesy of the Greenville Swamp Rabbits