Glads Melt IceMen 6-5 in OT

In quite the back-and-forth game that resulted in eleven goals and needed an overtime segment to determine a winner, the Gladiators would snag the victory and important two points in true dramatic fashion Wednesday night.The Gladiators struck first 3:54 into the opening period on Patrick D'Amico's first goal as a Gladiator. Bahntge started the play in the neutral zone finding Justin Buzzeo streaking into the Evansville zone. Buzzeo, after sticking handling around the IceMen defender, threw the puck to the back post to a wide open D'Amico who made no mistake for his third goal of the season. With his assist, Bahntge extended his point streak to five games. Evansville evened the score at one at the 15:53 mark of the first when Daulten Leveille notched his 14th goal of the season. Alex Wideman found Leveille with a centering pass from the far corner which gave him his 12th helper on the year. The IceMern would then take the lead with under 30 seconds to go in the first period. Troy Rutkowski blasted a one-timer in past Atlanta's starting goalie Kent Patterson steaming from a Tyson Fawcett cross-ice pass. Alex Wideman also received credit for his second assist of the game on the powerplay goal that gave Evansville the 2-1 lead after one. Gladiators alternate captain Tyler Murovich tied the game early in the middle period. Murovich collected his eighth tally on the year after he shot the puck right off a face-off win by Banhtge, who registered his second point of the evening with the helper. Mike Duco, who signed with Evansville earlier that day, deflected in a point shot by Chris Rumble past Paterson for his first goal in an Evansville jersey. The powerplay goal was the second mark for the IceMen with the man-advantage in the game. Atlanta brought the game back to equal once again after IceMen defenseman Rumble shot the puck into his own net off a shin guard in front of the goal on a clearly attempt. D'Amico was awarded credit for the goal as he was the last Atlanta player to touch the puck before the puck entered the net. J.T. Barnett and Mike Merrifield both recorded assists on the play. Alex Guptill scored his sixth goal of the season to get the lead back for Evansville for the third time. The Burlington, ON native put home a rebound for the fourth Evansville goal of the match. Vincent Dunn and Rutkowski were given the helpers on the tally that send Evansville into the third period with the 4-3 lead. The Gladiators would once again tie the game this time at four. Matt Register opened up the third period scoring with a wrist shot from the high slot on a 5-on-3 powerplay. Garry Nunn, in his first game back from Providence of the AHL, set up the play bringing into the IceMen zone where he found Register heading towards the net. The Gladiators fourth goal of the evening was the first for Register this season and with Atlanta. Jordan Sims took advantage of an Atlanta turnover and sent the puck into the top shelf of the net on the backhand at 12:07 of the third period. Dunn got the lone assist on Sims' fourth goal of the season that put Evansville ahead once again. With just 31.3 seconds remaining on the clock, Buzzeo found the puck on his stick at the top of the crease. The rookie forward scooped the puck over the shoulder of IceMen goalie Scott Greenham to tie the game in the last minute of the game. Thomas Frazee and Max Everson collected the helpers on the dramatic game-tying goal that sent the game to overtime. Gladiators captain Derek Nesbitt ended the game in the OT period on an one-timer shot for his 12th goal on the season. The game-winning goal was Nesbitt's fourth game-winner of the season to lead the team. Nunn and Register both notched their second points of the night with the assists on the OT goal. With the thrilling victory, Atlanta improved to 29 points on the season and collected their eighth road win of the campaign. Evansville earned a single point in the OT loss which gave them 12 total on the year.