Written by Noah Epstein
SAVANNAH, GA -- Brody Crane’s two third-period goals propelled Jacksonville to a 6-3 win in Savannah on Saturday night, leading the Icemen to sweep the Ghost Pirates in the home-and-home series.
Entering the third period, the Icemen led 3-2 in a tightly competitive contest, much unlike the night prior when Jacksonville skated Savannah out of the building and won 7-2.
While the Ghost Pirates had possession behind their own net, Crane stripped the puck and sent a shot right past Keith Kinkaid all in one motion, giving Jacksonville a 4-2 lead.
Crane then scored on a rebound a few minutes later to make it 5-2 Icemen, with the assist going to Brayden Hislop.
Crane scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season to provide his squad separation and essentially put the game away after two competitive periods of hockey.
Jacksonville and Savannah traded goals through the first couple stanzas, with Icemen goals being answered by game-tying goals from the Ghost Pirates on two separate occasions.
Liam Coughlin’s tip-in goal just 19 seconds into the game was answered by Will Riedell’s score in the second period.
Garrett Van Wyhe’s 5-on-3 power-play goal on a rebound was followed up by Ross Armour’s league-leading 11th power-play goal of the season a couple minutes later – both occurring in the second period.
Olivier Nadeau put the Icemen on top through two periods when he batted a puck out of the sky off a Peter Tischke shot for his 11th of the season.
Each team scored two goals in the middle period. And the Ghost Pirates outshot the Icemen 12-4 in the third. But three out of the four Icemen shots were successful, as Jacksonville finished with a comfortable 6-3 victory.
The finishing touch was applied by Chris Grando, scoring his team-best 14th goal of the year on an empty Savannah net.
The Icemen outscored the Ghost Pirates 13-5 in the two-game sweep, improving to 26-15-3 with 55 points in 44 games.
Jacksonville will host Bloomington on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.
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