Glads Throttle Florida 6-2, Maintain Division Lead

The Gwinnett Gladiators dominated the Florida Everblades 6-2 Saturday night at the Arena at Gwinnett Center to put more distance between the South Division rivals. The Glads (17-9-6-3) extended their division lead over the Blades (18-14-1-2) while snapping Florida’s seven-game regulation unbeaten streak.

Captain Paul Flache notched his second goal on the season to put the Gladiators on top in the first period with a shot between the five-hole of Everblades netminder Pat Nagle at the 7:00 mark. Tyler Murovich and Chris Clackson picked up the assists.

It was déjà vu for Gwinnett’s defenseman Dallas Jackson as he sniped a powerplay goal just inside the blue line to put the Glads up 2-0, just 55 seconds into the man advantage in the first. Jackson scored a similar goal in Friday’s win over Florida. Gladiators Justin Milo and Nikita Kashirsky tallied a point each eith assists on the goal.

The third goal of the period started with a pass from Gladiators defenseman Brad Miller to Colin Vock who passed the puck to Murovich. The Pittsburgh, PA native then danced though the defense to sneak it under the glove hand of Nagle to give the Glads a 3-0 advantage 14:47 into the first.

Forward Matt Marquardt posted the first goal of the game for the Blades at 18:59 in the opening period. Marquardt was recently acquired in a trade by Florida with the Bakersfield Condors. Regardless, Gwinnett led through one period 3-1.

Returning forward Bendickson fell right into sync with the team when he notched a goal for the Glads with a backhanded marker under the stick side of Nagle in the second period. Clackson and Flache collected helpers on the fourth goal for Gwinnett.

At 10:03 into the middle period, Everblade forward Mathieu Roy had a goal with an assist from Trevor Bruess to make the score 4-2.

Late in the third period, Gwinnett’s Shane Sims collected the second powerplay goal for the Glads with a rocket from the point at the 16:12 mark. Kashirsky and Milo added their second point each for the game with the helpers.

Pat Galivan put the nail in the coffin with an empty netter with a 1:05 left in the game to give the Glads a 6-2 advantage. Galivan tallied his 11th goal on the season and snapped a 12-game scoreless drought.

Marc Cheverie collected his fourth win of the season with 30 saves.

The Glads will be back in the Arena at Gwinnett Center next Saturday to take on the Greenville Road Warriors at 7:05 p.m.