Glads Stung by Rays

The Gladiators traveled to Charleston on Friday night for their first of two road games against the Stingrays. Patrick D’Amico scored for the Glads in the 1st period, but would remain the only tally of the night as the team fell 4-1 to South Carolina. The home side commenced the scoring 11:14 into the opening period to take a 1-0 lead. Austin Fyten came away with the puck behind the net on a hard forecheck. The 24-year old found a wide-open Kelly Zajac in front of the goal where he slide a wrist shot along the ice past the left pad of Atlanta goaltender Matt Ginn. Atlanta responded rapidly when Patrick D’Amico collected his 14th goal of the season just 29 seconds after the South Carolina opening marker. Tyler Murovich forced a turnover deep in the Stingrays zone and sent the puck to Brad Navin on the wing. The rookie forward then gave D’Amico the puck in the slot where the Winnipeg, MB native made no mistake and beat Stingrays goalie Mark Dekanich to tie the game at one. Navin and Murovich received the assists on D’Amico’s second goal in as many nights. South Carolina regained the lead 16:36 into the first period. The Stingrays made the most of their first man-advantage when Stephan Vigier posted his team-leading 20th goal on a shot from the goal line. Zajac earned his second point of the night and Brett Cameron also registered an assist on the powerplay goal that put South Carolina up 2-1 after one. The first two-goal lead of the evening for South Carolina was obtained on the lone second period goal scored by Patrick Gaul. The Stingrays alternate captain corraled a loose puck behind the Atlanta net, circled out front and beat Ginn with a wrist shot. Jared Staal and Marcus Perrier notch the helpers on the third Stingrays tally of the contest. The Stingrays added an insurance goal in the third from Jared Stall and eventually defeated the Gladiators 4-1 on home ice. Atlanta remained at 65 points and fell to a record of 29-24-5-2 in the road loss. The Stingrays improved to 33-18-4-2 and now have 72 points in the standings after the win.