Florida Blanks Atlanta 4-0

The Atlanta Gladiators returned to action for the first time since the holiday break on Wednesday night, as they welcomed the Florida Everblades to the Infinite Energy Arena. A two-goal performance from Quentin Shore led the visitors to their seventh straight win over Atlanta with the 4-0 victory.

Florida would open the game’s scoring 15:17 into the first period to take the early 1-0 lead. Brett Bulmer carried the puck into his offensive zone and took a slap shot that hit off the leg pad of Dan Vladar. Steven Lorentz then collected the rebound and lined a shot into the open net for his fourth goal of the season. Mitchell Heard tallied the secondary assist on the game’s first goal.

The Everblades then doubled their lead to 2-0 with just :53 seconds left in the opening frame. Justin Kea stole the puck from a defender in the corner of the Atlanta zone and sent a pass to Shore. The Denver, CO native then pulled the puck from forehand to backhand and lifted a shot over Vladar for his third goal of the year.

Just under five minutes into the second period, Florida struck once more to increase the lead to 3-0. Gus Young received a pass from Michael Kirkpatrick at the point, and blasted a shot that was deflected in by Stephen MacAulay in front of the net. The tally was MacAulay’s 13th of the season, and was the Everblades’ first power play goal of the contest.

Florida then increased their lead to 4-0 at the 13:26 mark of the third period. Nolan LaPorte took a shot from the near boards that hit off the crossbar and ricocheted to the far corner. There, Shore corralled the loose puck and wristed a shot towards net that slipped past the leg of Vladar for his second goal of the night.

Unable to pick up their first win against the Everblades this season, Atlanta dropped to 13-16-1-1 and remain in fourth in the South Division with 28 points. Meanwhile, Florida improved to 21-4-1-2 with the road victory and increased their lead atop the division with 45 points.

Up next, Atlanta will welcome South Carolina to the Infinite Energy Arena on Friday night for the first of a home-and-home set with their division rivals. The puck drops at 7:35pm between the Gladiators and Stingrays on December 29th.