Three Goals, 100 And Counting: Paliani Makes Everblades History

Devon Paliani reached a professional milestone on Saturday evening and made Florida Everbaldes franchise history in the same game.

The team was trailing the Atlanta Gladiators on Saturday, and Florida needed a spark of energy. Paliani supplied the spark by scoring three consecutive goals, and the team rallied for a 4-2 victory at Hertz arena. Paliani’s natural hat trick was the Everblades first hat trick in nine years, while his second goal marked his 100th professional goal.

Florida entered the game undefeated, and the comeback offered an early look at the ability to respond to adversity. The night became a night of Reflection for Paliani on his scoring and growth in his game.

A milestone in the middle of a comeback

Atlanta controlled the game early when Colton Friesen opened the scoring at 16:46 of the first and then Sam Tremblay scored a little over five minutes into the second. Florida found its rhythm and figured out Atlanta’s game and began to apply pressure.

Paliani’s first goal carried significance beyond the scoresheet. It was his 100th professional goal, capping the milestone that he has been building on for five seasons, now in his sixth season. Rather than just settling for one goal and giving his team life, the next two changed the game for the Everblades.

Three goals, 77 seconds apart

The third period changed Paliani’s defining moment. Florida was on a delayed penalty and holding the six-on-five advantage. Paliani threw the puck to the back of the net off a feed from Tyler Duke at 11:13 and evened the score. The Everblades had erased their deficit, but Paliani wasn’t done yet.

77 (fitting for the player wearing number 77) second later, at 12:30, he completed a natural hat trick and buried a pass from Maleek McGowan and gave Florida their first lead of the night. The sequence took the game and transformed it in just a matter of minutes. Three straight goals from Paliani, without Atlanta scoring, and a natural hat trick that has evaded the Everblades for almost nine years. The last Florida player to ever accomplish a natural hat trick was John McCarron, who scored a hat trick against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in February of 2018.

Jack Horbach added an empty-net goal with 12.4 seconds to seal the deal in a 4-2 victory.

A scorer who has built his career through consistency

This milestone did not happen overnight for Paliani. The LaSalle, Ontario native has developed into an offensive contributor throughout the course of his career and has found ways to produce across most of his ECHL stops. He has broken his points record three years in a row and is looking at doing it for his fourth year in a row.

Before he joined Florida for this current season, Paliani joined the Tahoe Knight Monsters on an AHL contract with the Henderson Silver Knights for the 2025-2026 season. In those 72 games, he tallied 32 goals and 33 assists. In the 2024-2025 season, Paliani was with the Savannah Ghost Pirates and scored 32 goals and 27 assists.

His professional hockey journey has taken him to the Maine Mariners, Worcester Railers, Toledo Walleye, Reading Royals, Savannah Ghost Pirates, and Tahoe Knight Monsters. He has built his offensive game, and it showed in his 100-goal milestone against Atlanta.

The consistency required to produce at the professional level is always an achievement. Goals come in different ways and opportunities can vary with every team. Sustaining production over multiple seasons requires an ability to find the net, regardless of the team circumstances. The performance from Saturday demonstrated that for Paliani in its most decisive form.

There will always be goals to chase and more milestones ahead, but Saturday offered a snapshot of what Paliani can bring to a team: scoring, consistency, and the ability to bring a spark when his team needs it the most.