RECAP: EASTON ARMSTRONG SCORES LONE ATLANTA GOAL AS GLADIATORS FALL TO JACKSONVILLE, 4-1 ON THE ROAD

JACKSONVILLE, FL - The Atlanta Gladiators (16-16-3-1) were defeated by the Jacksonville Icemen (20-9-2-1) by a final score of 4-1 on Friday night, at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Ethan Haider started in goal for the Gladiators, while Michael Houser got the nod for the Icemen.

While on their third consecutive power play of the opening period, it would be Jacksonville who struck first, as forward Christopher Grando (9th), deposited a juicy rebound into the cage.

Following the power-play goal for Jacksonville, the Gladiators got their chance on the man-advantage, and came close to converting. Easton Armstrong deked out Michael Houser, and rung the crossbar.

At 16:56, Atlanta tied the contest, with Easton Armstrong (7th) blowing a wrist shot straight past Michael Houser’s glove. Blake Murray had the lone assist on the goal for the Glads.

With just 28 seconds left in the opening period, Christopher Grando (10th) scored his second goal of the period, converting on a net-front feed from teammate Olivier Nadeau.

In the second period, the Icemen had a very strong start, and eventually found the back of the net at 5:18. Garrett Van Whye (4th) redirected a point shot from Ivan Chukarov past the stick-side of Ethan Haider.

Despite 10 shots on goal, and some quality scoring chances in the middle frame, the Gladiators failed to score, and were down 3-1 entering the third period.

At 8:32 of the third period, Logan Cockerill and the Icemen captain Christopher Brown broke in on a two on one rush, with Brown finishing the play off with a beautiful one-timer from the left side of the ice.

With less than five minutes to go, Joey Cipollone knocked the puck out of mid-air and into the net for the Glads, but the goal was immediately waved off by the referee. After a brief review, the officials confirmed the call.

On the loss tonight, Glads forward Joey Cipollone said “Tough one for sure, but we have a valuable opportunity tomorrow night to turn it around. We are looking forward to the challenge.”

Ethan Haider made 30 saves on 34 shots in the loss, while Michael Houser, in his third start since being assigned from the American Hockey League's Rochester Americans, earned the victory with 25 stops.

When asked to share his thoughts on tonight's game, head coach Derek Nesbitt commented, "Jacksonville is a good team. They are opportunistic and they certainly showed that tonight. We didn't win in the hard areas in front of both nets tonight, which hurt us on both sides of the scoreboard."

The Gladiators return to action TOMORROW night, when the club battles the out-of-division Cincinnati Cyclones, at 7:00 p.m.

Check out the highlights of tonight's game, below.