The Jacksonville Icemen won their first-ever shootout tonight as they defeated the Norfolk Admirals, 5-4. The victory marks their second straight against Norfolk and their fourth win in their past five games.
Last night, the Icemen gave up two early goals before rallying later in the first period. However, the Icemen were quick to jump out to an early lead tonight. Just over two minutes in, Christopher Dienes' shot from the point was deflected by Jimmy Lodge in the slot for the 1-0 lead. Only 79 seconds later, Elgin Pearce found Everett Clark all alone in the right circle and Clark buried his shot to put the Icemen up two goals. Then, Tanner Eberle crashed the net on Cameron Critchlow's shot and scored on the rebound to increase the lead to three goals.
The Admirals would respond, as Brodie Dupont scored a mere 14 seconds into their first power play. A short while later, Darik Angeli somehow sneaked his wraparound attempt past Lotz to pull the Admirals within one. Jacksonville finished the first period with the upper hand in shots, outshooting Norfolk, 16-6.
In the second period, the Admirals would continue to feed off of the momentum from the second half of the first period. Late in the frame, Nicholas Miglio found Darik Angeli in front of the net for the game-tying goal just as an Icemen penalty expired. Norfolk out-shot Jacksonville 10-5 in the second period and both teams were deadlocked after 40 minutes.
For the second straight game, the Icemen's power play delivered. At 7:42 in the third period, Jimmy Lodge put home the rebound on Everett Clark's shot and the Icemen recaptured the lead. However, Darik Angeli continued his best performance of the 2017-18 season. With under three minutes to play in the game, Angeli scored right off the faceoff to force overtime.
In overtime, Josh Erickson nearly earned another thrilling game-winning goal with a spin-around backhand shot, but Murray would smother the attempt. For the second time this season between the two clubs, the result would be settled in a shootout.
Defenseman Tim Daly scored his first-ever goal with the Icemen in the second round of the shootout against his former team, and Austin Lotz stopped all three Norfolk shots for the Icemen win. Jacksonville ends 2017 with four wins in their past five games, including points in all five games.
The 2017-18 season, presented by Community First Credit Union, rolls on as the Icemen return to Jacksonville for a three-game homestand, starting on Wednesday, Jan. 3rd at 7:30 p.m. against the Atlanta Gladiators. Fans can get their tickets here.
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