RECAP: Denomie's hat-trick springs Atlanta to 7-4 victory over Icemen

JACKSONVILLE, FL -  Carson Denomie scored a hat trick and Gustavs Grigals made 26 saves as the Atlanta Gladiators (23-45-3-1) finished the 2023-24 ECHL regular season with a 7-4 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen (42-24-5-1) Sunday afternoon for their second victory in as many days at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

BOX SCORE

First Star: Carson Denomie (ATL) - 3 goals, 1 assist

Second Star: Brendan Harris (JAX) - 1 goal, 2 assists

Third Star: Derek Lodermeier (JAX) - 3 assists

The Jacksonville Icemen opened the scoring in the final Atlanta Gladiators game of the 2023-24 season as Brendan Harris gave the Icemen a 1-0 lead with his 21st goal of the season (4:14).

Atlanta tied the game just three-minutes later to make the score 1-1 (7:10). Carson Denomie tipped home a Brenden Datema point shot for his first goal as an Atlanta Gladiators forward.

Jacksonville did not wait long before grabbing their second lead of the game as Ryan Scarfo scored his first goal for the Icemen just a minute later to give Jacksonville a 2-1 lead (8:05).

The Gladiators, not waiting to give Jacksonville much room, tied the game at two just 45-seconds later (8:50). Luke Prokop sent a puck on net from the blue line which found its way through for his sixth goal of the year.

Atlanta scored early in the second period to grab their first lead of the game as they pulled ahead 3-2 (2:52). Nolan Burke tipped home a Jake Willets point-shot for his fifth goal of the season.

The Gladiators doubled their lead midway through the second period to pull ahead by a 4-2 score (13:04). Zach Yoder sent the puck on net from below the goal line and the puck went off Icemen goaltender Matt Vernon’s stick and into the net for Yoder’s third goal of the season.

Jacksonville scored a power play goal early in the third period to pull within a goal 4-3 as Brandon Fortunato scored his second goal of the year for the Icemen (1:58).

Atlanta regained their two-goal lead on a power play advantage of their own to make it 5-3 (6:45). Brendan Hoffmann sent a pass to Robert Calisti who slapped the one-timer into the Icemen net for his 11th goal of the season.

The Icemen pulled back within a goal on the power play as Olivier Nadeau scored his 12th goal of the season to make it 5-4 (10:17).

Atlanta once again pulled ahead by two goals as they scored on a power play of their own to make the score 6-4 (11:44). Carson Denomie crashed the Jacksonville net and finished off the play with his second goal of the night.

With time running out in the third period the Icemen pulled goaltender Matt Vernon in favour of the extra skater and the Gladiators made them pay.

Carson Denomie put the puck into the empty net to seal the game and record the hat trick.

Gustavs Grigals made 26 saves in the victory for Atlanta, meanwhile Matt Vernon turned aside 22 shots in the loss for Jacksonville in relief of Joe Murdaca who allowed 2 goals on four shots.

Check out the highlights below!