SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Savannah Ghost Pirates closed out opening weekend with a hard-fought shootout loss to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Saturday night at Enmarket Arena.
Savannah opened the scoring with a 4-on-4 goal from Josh Lopina, who finished off a pass from Dennis Cesana to make it 1–0. Nicholas Zabaneh earned the secondary assist after entering the zone with some smooth skating. That would be the only goal of the first period, as both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play.
The second period saw the offense erupt for both sides. Greenville tied the game when Patrick Polino scored on the power play, then took the lead just 10 seconds later as Stepan Timofeyev ripped a shot from the right wing to make it 2–1.
Savannah evened things up when Robert Mastrosimone pounced on a loose puck in front and slammed it home to tie the game 2–2. Greenville regained the lead just 2:25 later when Cam Hausinger buried a rebound from Keaton Mastrodonato to make it 3–2.
The Ghost Pirates answered again less than a minute later when Bryce Brodzinski put away a rebound from Zabaneh to tie it 3–3. Just 51 seconds later, Matt Koopman gave Savannah the lead with a goal in front of the net. However, Hausinger struck again at 13:36, carrying the puck from the left corner and chipping it in to tie the game 4–4 — which remained the score through two periods.
Neither team found the back of the net in the third period or overtime, sending the game to a shootout. Brodzinski and Kenta Isogai each scored in the second round, but Hudson Schandor netted the winner in the fourth round to give Greenville the 5–4 victory.
Pierce Charleston earned the win for Greenville, stopping 28 of 32 shots and three of four in the shootout. Michael Simpson turned aside 29 of 33 shots and two of four attempts in the loss.
The Ghost Pirates return to home ice Thursday night when they host the South Carolina Stingrays at 7:00 p.m. for Troop Thursday, presented by VyStar Credit Union. Fans can stream the game live on FloHockey or listen on Mixlr.
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