After giving up a late third period lead in their previous game, the Atlanta Gladiators were back in action on Tuesday night looking to rebound from their game on Saturday. The Gladiators welcomed the Florida Everblades to the Infinite Energy Arena for the two teams’ first matchup of the year.
Florida would first strike, notching the contests’ opening goal just 7:11 into the beginning period. Michael Kirkpatrick received a pass in the offensive from Zack Kamrass, and then proceeded to circle the zone with the puck before speeding down the right wing side and sending a laser shot over the glove of Matt Ginn. The second year pro’s second of the season made the score 1-0, and gave Kamrass his fifth assist.
The Everblades doubled their lead on road ice with a tally 5:30 into the middle frame. Alex Kuquli received the puck at the point where he sent a cross ice pass to his defensive partner Matt Mackenzie. The former Gladiator then took a hard shot from the point that Levko Koper redirected past a sliding Ginn. The rookie’s team leading fifth goal of the year allowed Kuquali to pick up his first point of the season, while Mackenzie tallied his fourth helper of the year.
Atlanta was finally able to find the back of the net with just 1:40 remaining in the game. Justin Buzzeo received a break out pass from Ben Marshall and skated into the offensive zone on a two-on-one. After faking the pass, the product of Ferris State University took a quick shot over Daniel Altshuller’s glove to make cut the score to 2-1. Marshall was credited with his sixth assist of the year on Buzzeo’s third goal.
The offense came too late however, and the Gladiators were unable to catch up to the Everblades. Atlanta dropped to 5-5-1-1 on the year with the 2-1 loss, keeping them in second place in the ECHL South division with 12 points. With the win on the road, Florida has still yet to lose in regulation and sits at 7-0-1-0 in first place in the South division with 15 points.
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