Evansville Ices Glads 4-3

Playing in front of a raucous crowd of 5949 fans on Saturday, the Gladiators found themselves in the midst of a back-and-forth contest with the IceMen. After being up 3-2 in the 3rd, however, Evansville found a way to mount a comeback and steal a 4-3 victory from Atlanta. Evansville opened the scoring 15:06 into the first period when Nathan Moon fired a shot that went just above the pad of Gladiators goaltender Matt Ginn. The Ontario native notched his ninth goal of the season on the play, and Vincent Dunn registered his third assist against the Gladiators in two games.Sebastian Strandberg would double the away team's lead at the 18:22 mark of the opening frame. The Swedish rookie was credited with his fourth goal of the year after deking out Ginn with a forehand/backhand move on the breakaway. Jordan Sims and Chris Rumble both tallied an assist on the play after starting the breakout with a tic-tac-toe passing play in their own zone.Atlanta would come back to make it 2-1 just 1:44 into the second period after Derek Nesbitt added to his league-lead with his 21st goal of the season. The Gladiators captain tipped the puck past the Icemen goalie Christoffer Bengtsberg for the home team's first goal. Matt Register received his 18th helper of the season after taking the original shot from the point, while Gary Nunn notched his team-leading 25th assist on the play.The Gladiators then tied the game at two on their third powerplay of the game. Nesbitt scored his second of the game, and his 22nd of the season, 9:41 into the middle frame on a one-timer from the near circle. Thomas Frazee tallied his 25th helper on the play, and Nunn added his second of the night with the secondary assist. The home team would take their first lead of the night just a minute later on a goal from Tyler Murovich. The assistant captain would put Atlanta ahead 3-2 with a quick shot from the goal line that trickled through the pads of Bengtsberg, and found its way into the back of the net. Justin Buzzeo recorded his eighth assist of the year after sending Murovich the pass down low, while Patrick D'Amico was credited with the secondary helper on the play.The Icemen would then tie the game at 3-3 12:27 into the final stanza with a goal from Jordan Sims. The product of UConn scored his eighth tally of the year on a rebound in front of the net that he jammed through the pads of Matt Ginn. Tyson Fawcett recorded his eighth assist of the year on the play and Moon recorded his second point of the night with the secondary helper.Jonathan Carlsson would put Evansville up 4-3 just 43 seconds later with a shot from the near-side half wall. The native of Uppsala, Sweden recorded his first goal, which would hold to be the game winner, in North America on the play. Dunn picked up his second assist of the night after setting Carlsson up in the near circle, while Matthew Zay was credited with the secondary assist on the play.Despite their efforts to regain the late lead, Atlanta dropped to 25-15-2-0 on the year with the loss on home ice, giving them 52 points, good for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Evansville improved to 15-19-3-1 with the win, putting them in 13th place in the Western Conference with 34 points.