News release
9 December 2011
Estero, Fla. - The Elmira Jackals' six-game winning streak was snapped on Friday night at Germain Arena, with the Florida Everblades prevailing with an 8-2 victory. The loss was Elmira's first since Nov. 25, ending the club's longest winning streak of 2011-2012.
David Rutherford took a centering feed from Matt Beca and snapped it past the glove of Jackals goaltender Brian Stewart, giving the Everblades a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 61 seconds into the game.
Artem Demkov wristed a puck from the left circle with the Jackals on a power play of their own, sending it past a screen set up by Jean Bourbeau and into the net to tie the game, 1-1, at 9:37.
With a five-on-three Everblades' power play ending, Rylan Galiardi took a deflected puck from a Rutherford shot that hit the post and wristed it in from the right circle, putting Florida back up 2-1 at 12:43.
The Everblades put together a strong second period to open their lead. Galiardi tapped in a centering feed from Beca at 6:45, Scott Pitt pushed in a rebound from his own shot in the crease at 15:46, and Deron Cousens wristed in the first goal of his career from the slot at 18:34 to make it 5-1 after two periods.
Florida continued to pour it on in the third period. Beca, who had five points (1-4) on the game, snapped a puck in past Stewart's stick from the left circle at 2:56, Mathieu Roy wristed a puck in from the right circle at 4:25, and Cousens finished off a two-on-none, pushing in a feed from Pitt at 15:22 to put Florida up 8-1.
Kevin King knocked in a centering feed from Jordan Pietrus at 18:15 for his first pro goal, ending the scoring at 8-2.
Stewart fell to 9-4-0-0, ending a personal five-game winning streak with 21 saves. Nick Niedert made his ECHL debut after Florida's sixth goal and made one save on three shots. Everblades goaltender Pat Nagle improved to 7-6-0-0 with a 28-save effort.