By: Cristiano Simonetta and Catherine Morrison
DULUTH, GA — The Savannah Ghost Pirates (6-10-2-1) beat the Atlanta Gladiators (9-8-0-0) 5-4 on the road at Gas South Arena on Saturday night.
Savannah struck first with Vincent Marleau’s shot from the slot at 6:26 in the first period. Marleau’s 11th goal of the season marked his fourth in his last two games following a hat trick on Friday night against the South Carolina Stingrays. Thirty-two seconds later, Atlanta’s Ryan Cranford scored to tie the game.
At the start of the second period, the Gladiators flexed their muscles with a pair of quick goals. Atlanta’s Alex Whelan scored for the Gladiators at 3:51 and Griffin Luce added an insurance goal at 9:02.
However, in the second half of the period, the Ghost Pirates began to play with renewed vigor and turned the game on its head.
Logan Drevitch’s shot off the faceoff beat Tyler Harmon above the blocker to cut Atlanta’s lead to 3-2 at the 10:36 minute mark, giving the Ghost Pirates life. Drevitch scored again at 15:23, tying the game at three goals apiece, this time with a wrist shot from the left circle. Ross Armour picked up assists on both of Drevitch’s goals.
Anthony Collins gave Savannah the lead at 17:18, firing a shot from the left point off the rush that careened off of a Gladiator and in. Collins, who played 59 games for Atlanta in 2019-20, recorded his second goal of the season.
The Gladiators answered back with a goal from Mitchell Fossier to tie the game at 19:06 as both teams headed to the locker rooms tied 4-4 with a period to play.
Brent Pedersen notched a power-play goal 4:48 into the third period, picking up his sixth goal of the season as Savannah took a 5-4 lead.
Michael Bullion was excellent in net and shut down the Gladiators in the third period to get the win for Savannah. Bullion made 38 saves on 42 shots, including 20 in the final frame of regulation.
Savannah went 1-for-4 on the power play and killed all three Atlanta power plays.
The Ghost Pirates will play their next game against the Jacksonville Icemen on Tuesday, December 5th, at 7:00 p.m. at Enmarket Arena. For more information, go to GhostPiratesHockey.com.
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