Glads Fall to Florida 4-1

A night after rolling to a 4-2 victory, the Gladiators would fall to the very same Florida Everblades by a final score of 4-1 at The Arena at Infinite Energy Center Saturday night. The first period was set to end scoreless until Everblades defensemen Kevin Montgomery blasted a long-range shot through Gladiators goaltender Andy Iles. The goal came with only seven seconds remaining in the period and during Floridas second powerplay opportunity of the game. The Rochester, NY native tallied his second goal and fourth point on the year. The Everblades increased their lead to 2-0 at the 11:02 mark of the second period as tick-tack-toe passing culminated with a one-time slap shot off the stick of Matt Marquardt for his third goal of the season. The score also accounted for the second powerplay goal for Florida on the evening. Brendan ODonnell improved his position as the leagues leader in assists as he now has seven, while Montgomery earned his third helper of the year on the play and second point in the game.Down two goals to start the third period, the Gladiators found themselves in a favorable situation as Everblades forward Gabriel Desjardins was ejected for slew-footing, giving Atlanta a five-minute power play only 2:07 into the third period. The Gladiators, now with a two-man advantage, capitalized on the 5-on-3 powerplay as Garry Nunn teed up a perfect one-time shot for Dereck Nesbitt who drilled into the back of the net to cut the deficit to one with 14:25 left in the game. The tally was the second goal of the year for the Gladiator captain.Florida reclaimed their two-goal lead on a third powerplay goal at the 9:55 mark of the third period. Ethan Werek passed to an open Corey Syvret who powered a backdoor slap shot past Iles. The goal was the first on the season for the Millgrove, ON native and his third point of the campaign.The Everblades would seal the game with an empty-net goal by Evan Bloodoff to take a 4-1 advantage with less than a minute left in the contest. Mike Aviani earned the secondary assist and Marquardt got the primary helper on the goal, his second point of the game which increased his league lead in points to nine. The Gladiators fell to 1-2-1 with the loss on the season while Florida improved to 4-1-0 and eight points to remain atop the Eastern Conference.