Greenville, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits defeated the Atlanta Gladiators 4-0 on Thursday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena to snap the Gladiators’ five game win streak. Atlanta was shut out for the fifth time this season, with Isaiah Saville stopping all 35 Gladiators’ shots.

It was the first meeting between the two rivals since February 11^th, and the 12^th time in the season series. The Gladiators were in search of their sixth win in a row to keep ahold of the second seed in the division, while Greenville hoped to keep its playoff chances alive with a win. T.J. Semptimphelter started in net for Atlanta, while Isaiah Saville earned the nod for Greenville.

From the opening puck drop, Greenville dictated the pace and the terms of the game, catching the Gladiators on their heels and spending the majority of the time in the Atlanta zone. The Gladiators went to the power play 4:51 with hopes of taking an early lead, but instead ended up surrendering a shorthanded goal to Parker Berge to fall behind 1-0. Berge intercepted a pass across the blue line and took it to the house to give Greenville the lead 6:27 into the contest. The Swamp Rabbits continued to set the pace and the tone and added another goal from Keaton Mastrodonato with 18.5 seconds remaining in the period to go up 2-0. Mastrodonato’s goal was scored on a 3 on 1, as Greenville led by a pair after the first, after outshooting Atlanta 14-7.

The Gladiators were able to fire more shots on Saville in the second period but were not able to sneak any past the netminder. Shorthanded late in the period, Atlanta put up a handful of prime scoring chances on Saville but came up empty handed. Toward the end of the penalty, Tim Rego hit Mastrodonato with a stretch pass to put him on a breakaway which he scored on to make it a 3-0 game. Mastrodonato’s second goal of the game came on the power play with 1:10 left in the period.

The Swamp Rabbits tacked on another power play goal with 3:47 left in regulation, as Ryan O’Hara scored off of a pass from the corner to the left circle. Atlanta outshot Greenville 13-3 in the third period and 35-29 overall, but did not solve Saville who logged a 35 save shutout. Semptimphelter stopped 25/29 in the loss, as the Gladiators went 0/3 on the power play and 2/4 on the penalty kill.

The Gladiators will look to bounce back in the rematch of the I-85 Rivalry at Gas South Arena tomorrow night. Puck drop is set for 7:10 PM, for Golf Night in Duluth. Don’t miss out on the action with the Gladiators wearing specialty jerseys for the occasion – get your tickets HERE and join the battle today.