Estero, FL – The Atlanta Gladiators defeated the Florida Everblades 5-4 in overtime at Hertz Arena in Friday night, in a game that featured four lead changes and the Gladiators overcoming an early 2-0 deficit and a late 4-3 deficit for their most thrilling win of the year to this point.

The Gladiators and Everblades met for the second game of a three-game set in South Florida, with T.J. Semptimphelter starting in net for Atlanta, and Will Cranley for Florida. The Gladiators were previously 2-0 vs Florida this season, with 2-0 wins at Hertz Arena on 10/24 and 1/28. 

This game had a different script, as play was heavy and physical right at puck drop. 4 on 4 action ensued early with Chad Nychuk in the box for Atlanta and Sean Allen for Florida. During the 4 on 4, the Everblades scored off of a tip in from Craig Needham to score their first goal of the season series and take a 1-0 lead 4:53 into the first. Florida added a power play goal from Reid Duke with 6:30 left in the opening period to take a 2-0 lead. In a period where the Gladiators had nothing going offensively, they did gain some life with a late first period power play goal from Ryan Nolan to get them on the board and make it a 2-1 game. Nolan’s 10^th of the year was assisted by Chad Nychuk and Mike McNamee and came with 3:45 left in the opening period. Florida led 2-1 after one period and had outshot Atlanta 19-5.

It wasn’t instant, but over the course of the second period the momentum shifted in the Gladiators’ favor. Atlanta was calm and began to settle into the game and play their style of hockey and took control. They were able to take the lead because of it, tying the game at 2-2 with a goal from Chad Nychuk assisted Ryan Francis with 5:09 left in the second period; and took the lead with a goal from Joey Cipollone assisted by Nolan Orzeck to go up 3-2 with 2:43 left in the period. Atlanta outshot Florida 14-10 in the second period and led 3-2 after two periods.

Things got wild in the third period, with Anthony Romano proving to be a game changer for Florida, scoring twice within the opening six minutes of the third period to give the Everblades a 4-3 lead. Romano’s first goal came 1:18 in off of a failed clearing attempt, his second game in transition 5:34 into the period from Oliver Chau and Kade Landry. Despite falling behind again, the Gladiators’ confidence never wavered. Trailing by one with the net empty Nychuk delivered in the clutch again, scoring the tying goal from Isak Walther and Ryan Francis on a deep shot from the blue line with 1:48 left in regulation. Tied at 4-4, the game went to overtime.

Florida won the opening faceoff of overtime and drove the puck to the net where Semptimphelter robbed Reid Duke to give Atlanta possession. The Gladiators took the puck up ice where Alex Young dropped the puck off for Isak Walther, who scored the game winning goal 52 seconds into overtime to give Atlanta the 5-4 comeback victory. Semptimphelter stopped 33/37 in the Gladiators’ biggest comeback win of the season. Atlanta went 1/2 on the power play and 1/2 on the penalty kill, with Florida outshooting 37-25.

The Gladiators are now 4-0-1 on their road trip and have points in seven straight games with wins in each of their last four. Florida will host Atlanta in the final game of the three-game slate on Saturday night at 7:00 PM EST, with coverage on the Gladiators Broadcast Network beginning at 6:40 PM EST.