North Charleston, SC. – The Atlanta Gladiators (23-23-5-2) defeated the South Carolina Stingrays (32-13-3-2) on Saturday night, by a final score of 2-1, at North Charleston Coliseum, in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Drew DeRidder started between the pipes for the Gladiators for his fifth consecutive start, while Seth Eisele got the start for the Stingrays.
At 12:21, the Gladiators were able to get on the board first, when defensemen Chad Nychuk (3rd) scored in his second straight game. Nychuk shot the biscuit from the top of the key, and it deflected off of the lower body of the Stingray captain, Jacob Graves.
Despite the Stingrays finding themselves in a one-goal deficit at the end of the period, they challenged DeRidder with 16 shots on goal while the Glads had just four against Seth Eisele.
After Stingray forward Charlie Combs went to the penalty box for hooking at 5:33 of the third period, 32-year-old forward Cody Slyvester (19th), in his return to the lineup, capitalized on the power play opportunity by firing a wirst shot into the upper-right corner of the net from the right circle. Sylvester's tally was assisted by Derek Topatigh and Blake Murray.
South Carolina wasn’t going away easy, as they broke through against Drew DeRidder at 13:44. Stingray forward Jace Isley (4th) maneuvered himself past two Gladiator defenders and snuck a wicked shot past DeRidder's glove hand.
Despite a late push from the Stingrays, the Glads held on defensively to win the contest by a final score of 2-1. This is the second consecutive time in a span of a month that the Gladiators have managed to upset the high-ranked Stingrays on the road. The Glads, with the win, also ended South Carolina's five-game winning streak.
In the win for the Gladiators, Drew DeRidder made 30 saves on 31 shots, while Seth Eisele saved 24 of 26 shots in the loss for the Stingrays.
"We weathered a strong start by South Carolina," head coach Derek Nesbitt commented. "Drew was phenomenal again, and our power-play got a much needed goal to get the monkey off our backs. Our penalty-kill came up big again, and we stuck together and got the job done against a hell of a team on the road. Now we just need to continue to build on it."
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