Gladiators Fall to Rays 2-0

Matt Ginn stopped 32 of 33 shots he faced, but it wouldn’t be enough for the W, as the the South Carolina Stingrays blanked the Gladiators 2-0 on Saturday Night. After two scoreless periods, the South Carolina Stingrays broke the deadlock just 2:49 into the third frame, converting on their fourth powerplay opportunity of the game. Spencer Humphries delivered a long pass from the slot to Kelly Zajac inside the right circle. The Winnipeg, MB native one-timed a shot into the upper-right corner of the net, past the glove of Gladiators goaltender, Matt Ginn. Zajac notched his fifth goal of the season while Humphries picked up his second assist on the year on the play. Nick Jones was credited with the secondary helper for his 10th of the campaign. The Stingrays added an empty-net goal with 11.9 seconds remaining to seal the victory for South Carolina. David Pacan gathered the puck in the neutral zone and hit a long shot that found the net. The forward recorded his 19th goal of the season while Wade Epp and Joey Leach each registered assists on the play.The loss for Atlanta dropped the Gladiators to a record of 31-28-5-2 and keeps them at 69 points. Vitek Vanecek earned his second career shutout for the Stingrays that propelled them to 87 points and clinched a playoff spot for South Carolina.