Estero, FL – The Florida Everblades defeated the Atlanta Gladiators 4-2 on Saturday night at Hertz Arena. Florida forward Devon Paliani recorded a hat trick to help the Everblades erase a two goal deficit.

The Gladiators met the Everblades for the second time on the weekend and after falling 5-0 on Friday night, were in search of a bounce back performance on Saturday to earn a weekend split. T.J. Semptimphelter started in net for the Gladiators, while Cam Johnson got the nod for the Everblades fresh off a 17 save shutout the night prior.

Rookies Jack Blake and Anthony Cipollone made their professional debuts for the Gladiators.

The Gladiators controlled the pace and possession in the first period, executing their game plan and suffocating the Everblades in their own zone. Atlanta got up to an early lead in the shot count at 9-1 thanks to its strong start. The Everblades attempted to turn the tide, but netminder T.J. Semptimphelter held firm to keep the game a scoreless tie. The Gladiators finally broke though with 3:14 left in the opening period to take a 1-0 lead. Colton Friesen scored his second goal of the season to give the Gladiators their first opening lead of the season from Sam Tremblay who was able to escape a 3 on 1 in the neutral zone to set up the score. Atlanta held the 1-0 lead heading into the intermission and led the shot count 11-9.

Atlanta extended its lead 5:39 into the second period as Tremblay notched a goal of his own to make it 2-0. Tremblay deflected a long shot by Owen Murray from the right point for his second goal of the season. Branden Troock earned an assist on the goal as well, his first point of the season. With 7:11 left in the middle frame, Devon Paliani fired in a rebound off a save by Semptimphelter to make it a 2-1 game. Jordan Sambrook and Tyson Dyck collected assists on the goal as Florida made it a 2-1 game heading into the second intermission. Florida outshot Atlanta 13-7 in the second period.

Paliani added two more goals in the second period to bring the Everblades from down two to up by one. Paliani’s second goal came 11:13 into the third period off of a tip in at the side of the net from Tyler Duke and Max Graham. His third goal game on a cross ice feed from MaleeK McGowan 1:27 later to give Florida a 3-2 lead. The Gladiators had a late chance on the power play  to try and tie the game but came up empty handed. Florida scored an empty netter from Jack Horbach with 13 seconds left to make it a 4-3 final.

Semptimphelter stopped 25/28 while Johnson stopped 23/25. The Gladiators went 0/6 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill in the loss. Atlanta’s record fell to 1-4 on the season, while Florida improved to 4-0.

The Gladiators are back in action on Halloween in Jacksonville for their first meeting of the season against the Icemen. Puck drop is set for 3:00 PM, watch live on FloHockey or listen in on the Gladiators YouTube channel.