ESTERO, Fla. - The Atlanta Gladiators (6-3-0-0) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and went a perfect 7-for-7 on the penalty-kill to defeat the Florida Everblades (6-3-1-0) on Wednesday evening at the Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida. Gabe Guertler picked up two goals in the win to extend his season total to five.
BOX SCORE
First Star: Gabe Guertler (ATL) - 2 goals, game-winning goal
Second Star: Reece Vitalli (ATL) - 1 goal, 1 assist
Third Star: Dominic Franco (FLA) - 1 goal
Atlanta opened the scoring just under seven minutes into the first period. Reece Vitelli blazed into the Everblades zone and wired a shot past Florida netminder Cam Johnson to make it 1-0 (13:25).
Gabe Guertler would extend Atlanta’s lead to 2-0 just over three minutes later on the power play. Guertler jumped on an Eric Neiley rebound in front of the net and found twine (9:55).
Florida cut the lead in half early in the second period as Kobe Roth scored on a breakaway to cut Atlanta’s lead to 2-1 (17:48).
The Gladiators restored their two-goal lead midway through the second period as Guertler netted his second of the night, finishing off a pass from Cody Sylvester to set the score at 3-1 (9:06).
Florida scored shorthanded to trim Atlanta’s lead to 3-2 courtesy of Dominic Franco after he picked off a pass in the Gladiators’ zone (14:12). That would be as close as the Everblades got as the Gladiators shut the door the rest of the way.
Tyler Parks turned aside 27 of 29 shots in the victory for Atlanta while Johnson stopped 24 shots in the loss.
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