Glads Spear Rays 3-2 in OT

The Gladiators would get goals from Eric Neiley and Derek Nesbitt in regulation, plus a highlight-reel OT winner from Tyler Murovich in Thursday night's 3-2 overtime victory over the South Carolina Stingrays.Following a scoreless opening frame, Eric Neiley put the Gladiators up 1-0 12:22 into the second period. Derek Nesbitt tried a centering pass to Chris Auger that was blocked and landed on Neiley's stick at the back door. The Dartmouth product then tucked the puck into the top shelf for his sixth tally of the season. Nesbitt and Auger picked up their 30th and 17th assists of the season, respectively. South Carolina was quick to respond, as Brett Cameron put the visiting team on the board 16:16 into the middle stanza. After he received a lead pass from Spencer Humphries, Stephan Vigier brought the puck down the far side of the ice and into the Atlanta zone. The second-year pro then sent a saucer pass over the defenders stick and right to Cameron, who knocked the puck into the back of the net. They tally marked the Alberta native's 20th goal of the season, while Vigier picked up his 25th helper of the year, and Humphries notched his 15th with the secondary assist.The Stingrays then gained their first lead of the night with 5:46 left in the third period. Austin Fyten scored the power play goal for the visiting team for his sixth tally of the season. After setting up the play for South Carolina's Bobby Shea and David Pacan were credited with their 22nd and 40th assists of the year.Derek Nesbitt then responded with his first goal in 13 games to tie the game at two. Just 41 seconds after the Stingrays goal, the Atlanta captain knocked in a loose puck in for his team-leading 25th of the year. Neiley was credited with his second point of the night with the primary helper, and Ian Barteaux tallied his 12th helper by getting the secondary assist.After finishing regulation tied at 2-2, the division rivals headed to sudden death overtime to declare a winner. After controlling the puck for most of the extra period, Atlanta capitalized on their final chance with a goal from Tyler Murovich with only 56 seconds left. The Gladiators assistant captain received a long pass from Nesbitt and went into the Stingrays zone on a breakaway where he sent the puck past South Carolina goaltender Vitek Vanecek for his 18th goal of the year. Nesbitt picked up is his third point of the night with the lead pass, while Max Everson tallied his 12th assist on the secondary helper. With the overtime win at home, Atlanta improves to 31-27-5-2 on the season, bumping them up to 10th place in the Eastern Conference with 69 points. Meanwhile, South Carolina falls to 38-18-6-3 keeping them in second place in the Eastern Conference with 84 points on the year.