Three different Stingrays scored in Saturday's victory over Florida.
After falling 3-2 to the Florida Everblades Friday, the South Carolina Stingrays got revenge on Saturday with a 4-1 win at Hertz Arena in Estero.
Unlike Friday when the Everblades jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, the Stingrays pulled away late, scoring all four goals in the third period. Austin Magera, Erik Middendorf (2) and Josh Wilkins all scored for South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Gibson and Seth Eisele combined to stop 24 shots in the win. Gibson had to exit the game halfway through the first period after suffering an apparent injury, and Eisele came into replace him.
The Stingrays outshot Florida 12-7 in the first period, but neither team could light the lamp.
It wasn’t until 2:15 left in the middle frame that Florida finally scored the first tally. Marc-Andre Gaudet got his own rebound after a shot, went behind the net and sent the puck in front. Logan Lambdin and Carson Gicewicz each got a stick on it, with Gicewicz ultimately being credited with his 12th goal of the season.
South Carolina tied the game 1-1 nine minutes into the third period on a four-on-two. Micah Miller shoveled the puck ahead from the blue line, which bounced off a stick. Magera sent a beautiful shot between Florida goaltender Cam Johnson’s shoulder and the cross bar. It was Magera’s fifth goal of the season, with Miller getting the assist.
The Stingrays took the lead nine minutes later. After forechecking in the Florida zone, Tyler Weiss sent a feed to Kyler Kupka below the goal line. Kupka then got in front and sent the puck to Middendorf, who beat Johnson for the Stingrays’ first lead of the entire weekend.
The Rays made the score 3-1 with 45 seconds left on an errant Everblades pass that went all the way from the South Carolina defensive zone to the back of Florida’s net. Since Middendorf was the last Stingray to touch the puck, he was credited with his second goal of the night and 10th of the year.
The Rays’ final tally came with eight seconds left on a Florida turnover. Wilkins went on a breakaway and scored his sixth goal of the season and third in his last two games for the 4-1 final.
It was a chippy game between the top two teams in the South Division, with a total of 121 combined penalty minutes and nine misconduct penalties.
Eisele picked up the win in relief, moving his record to 7-2-1. Johnson’s record fell to 14-2-1.