DULUTH, Ga. – The Savannah Ghost Pirates dropped their road opener to the Atlanta Gladiators, 4–2, on Saturday evening at Gas South Arena.
Atlanta opened the scoring at the 6:15 mark of the first period when Cody Sylvester centered a pass in front to Joey Cipollone, who slammed it home to make it 1–0. Mike McNamee earned the secondary assist.
Moments later, the Gladiators were awarded a penalty shot, but Isak Walther was denied by Ghost Pirates goaltender Evan Cormier to keep it a one-goal game.
Atlanta extended its lead with a shorthanded 2-on-1 goal when Chad Nychuk fired a shot high to make it 2–0. Louis Boudon picked up the lone assist. Just six seconds later, Ryan Nolan forced a turnover in front of the net and lifted a backhand past Cormier to give Atlanta a 3–0 lead.
Savannah cut the deficit to two in the second period when Phip Waugh buried a rebound off a Josh Davies shot to make it 3–1. Hunter Johannes added the secondary assist.
The Ghost Pirates pulled within one in the beginning of the third when Davies streaked down the left side and ripped a shot into the top corner to make it 3–2.
Atlanta responded less than two minutes later, as Mickey Burns finished off a feed from Nolan to restore the two-goal lead at 4–2. Alex Young was credited with the secondary assist.
Evan Cormier stopped 19 of 23 shots in the loss, while Ethan Haider earned the win for Atlanta with 32 saves on 34 shots.
The Ghost Pirates’ next home game is Wednesday, November 5, at 7:00 p.m., for Marvel Night featuring Spider-Man. Fans can stream the game live on FloHockey or listen on Mixlr. For tickets and more information, visit ghostpirateshockey.com.
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