SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Savannah Ghost Pirates, proud ECHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers, dropped a 6–5 contest to the Jacksonville Icemen on Thursday evening.
Savannah opened the scoring 2:57 into the game when Hunter Johannes rifled in his first goal of the season from the right dot to make it 1–0. Logan Drevitch and Evan Nause collected the assists.
Jacksonville tied the game less than a minute later when Matteo Costantini slipped behind the defense on an odd-man rush and scored from the right circle to make it 1–1. Brody Crane and Taos Jordan assisted.
The Ghost Pirates regained the lead 44 seconds later when Reece Vitelli set up Dennis Cesana in the slot, who buried the chance to make it 2–1. Bryce Brodzinski earned the secondary helper.
Savannah extended the lead when Brodzinski wired a shot from the top of the left circle to make it 3–1.
The Icemen cut into the deficit at 16:38 of the first when Garrett Van Wyhe slammed home a feed from Patrick Bajkov.
Jacksonville tied the game with 49 seconds remaining in the period when Craig Martin sifted a shot into the net to make it 3–3. Christopher Brown had the lone assist.
Savannah struck quickly to open the second period, as Liam Walsh forced a turnover from Jacksonville goaltender Scott Ratzlaff and tucked it in just 11 seconds into the frame to make it 4–3. Ratzlaff was pulled from the game following the goal.
The Ghost Pirates extended their lead again—this time on the power play—when Eamon Powell’s point shot was deflected twice, first by Ryan Sullivan and then finished off by Riley Hughes to make it 5–3.
Jacksonville pulled back within one when Bennett MacArthur cleaned up the rebound from a Brown shot with 34 seconds remaining in the second, making it 5–4.
The Icemen tied the game once more 7:52 into the third when Van Wyhe netted his second of the night to bring it to 5–5.
Jacksonville took its first lead with 7:08 remaining when Martin buried a pass from Crane, giving the Icemen a 6–5 advantage they would not relinquish.
Michael Bullion earned the win in relief, stopping 17 of 18 shots. Evan Cormier made 21 saves on 27 shots for Savannah.
The Ghost Pirates begin a three-game road swing tomorrow when they visit the Jacksonville Icemen. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Fans can stream the game live on FloHockey or listen on Mixlr. For tickets and more information, visit ghostpirateshockey.com.
— GHOST PIRATES —
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