SAVANNAH, GA - The Atlanta Gladiators (20-36-3-1) put up four-first period goals and Gustavs Davis Grigals stopped all 28 shots he faced, leading the Gladiators past the Savannah Ghost Pirates (23-30-4-1) by a 5-0 score Wednesday evening at Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia.
First Star: Gustavs Davis Grigals (ATL) - 28 saves, shutout victory
Second Star: Mitch Walinski (ATL) - 1 game-winning goal
Third Star: Reece Vitelli (ATL) - 1 goal
Atlanta opened the scoring just before the midway point of the first period to jump out to a 1-0 lead (7:03). Carson Denomie, who was acquired Tuesday in the Jacob Graves trade, dropped a pass to Mitch Walinski at the right circle, and Wally made no mistake, wiring home his sixth goal of the season.
Atlanta needed just 29-seconds to strike again, with Reece Vitelli taking a short pass from Michael Marchesan, firing the biscuit into the basket for his 10th goal of the year (7:32).
Atlanta would add another just three minutes later, while short handed (10:10). Micah Miller picked off a sloppy Ghost Pirates pass, flew in all alone, and completely undressed Jesper Vikman, potting his 22nd goal of the season.
The Gladiators special teams would strike again before the first period came to a close, this time on the power play to make the score 4-0 (17:27). Jake Willets, who was also acquired as a part of the Jacob Graves trade, sent a perfect pass to Robert Calisti, who one-timed his 10th goal of the season into the net.
Both goaltenders stood tall in the second stanza to not allow an edge, as the game remained at a 4-0 score through two periods.
Come the third, Atlanta would score their second power play goal of the evening, with Ryan Cranford finishing off a terrific tic-tac-toe passing play, with a tap in tally that registered as goal number twelve on the season for Cranny (13:56).
Gustavs Davis Grigals stopped all 28 shots he faced en route to the shutout victory for Atlanta, meanwhile Jesper Vikman turned aside 18 shots in the loss for Savannah.
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