Glads Fall to Rabbits in OT

The Gladiators made things interesting late in the third Saturday night, with Patrick D’Amico scoring with just 9.3 seconds remaining in regulation. It was Greenville, however, who would emerge victorious, courtesy of an overtime winner from Jack Combs. After one period of scoreless hockey, the Gladiators broke the deadlock at the 14:26 mark of the second frame. Max Everson received the puck in the offensive zone and propelled a shot that was redirected by Tyler Murovich past the glove of Swamp Rabbit goaltender, P.J. Musico. J.T. Barnett was credited with the secondary assist on Murovich's 10th goal of the season.The Swamp Rabbits responded 2:10 later with a goal off the stick of Richard Nejezchleb. Michael St. Croix found the streaking forward who cut in front of Ginn and slotted the puck into the net to tie the game at one. The goal is Nejezchleb's third of the year while St. Croix picked up his 14th assist of the season. Scott Fleming collected his 13th helper with the secondary assist.St. Croix gave the Swamp Rabbits the lead with just under two minutes left in the second period. The Winnipeg, MB native received the puck in the near circle and slapped a near-post shot past Ginn to give Greenville a 2-1 advantage. The forward picked up his second point of the game while Sean Escobedo and Ryan Rashid tallied assists on the play.A ferocious third period culminated with an equalizing goal by Patrick D'Amico who blasted a one-time shot past the glove of Musico with nine seconds left in the game. The rookie's seventh goal of the season came off passes from Garry Nunn and Matt Register who tallied their 14th and fourth assists, respectively. The Swamp Rabbits sealed the extra point and the win 3:32 into a back-and-forth overtime period. Josh Nicholls skated down the right side and centered the puck to a trailing Jack Combs who scored to finish off the Gladiators and earn the 3-2 OT victory. The goal is the St. Louis, MO native's 15th goal and 31st point of the season, both good for second in the ECHL.Atlanta falls to 16-10-2-0 and improves to 34 points with the one point they received in the overtime loss to stay in third place in the South Division. Greenville advances to 14-12-3 and 31 points to remain in fourth place in the South.