NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Savannah Ghost Pirates, proud ECHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers, extended their winning streak to seven games with a 6–3 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays on Friday night.
Savannah opened the scoring midway through the first period when Logan Drevitch forced a turnover and found Keaton Pehrson in the high slot, giving the Ghost Pirates a 1–0 lead.
The Stingrays answered just 15 seconds later as Simon Pinard fed Josh Wilkins in front of the net to tie the game at 1–1. The teams remained even after one period of play.
The Ghost Pirates regained the lead at 11:32 of the second period when Matt Koopman tipped in a point shot from Dennis Cesana to make it 2–1. Riley Hughes earned the secondary assist.
Savannah added to its advantage moments later on a 2-on-1 rush, as Hughes slid a pass to Nicholas Zabaneh, who finished to extend the lead to 3–1. Drevitch recorded the other assist.
South Carolina responded with a transition goal from Patrick Guzzo to cut the deficit to 3–2.
Savannah quickly regained control with two goals in a span of 54 seconds. Connor Gregga redirected a shot from Josh Davies to make it 4–2, with Evan Nause picking up the secondary assist. Shortly after, Noah Carroll found Ryan Sullivan in the slot, and Sullivan snapped home a shot to push the lead to 5–2. Drevitch collected his third assist of the game on the goal.
The Stingrays trimmed the lead to 5–3 at 14:28 of the third period when Dean Loukus scored on a rebound off a shot by Reilly Webb.
Savannah sealed the victory in the final seconds as Nick Granowicz added a shorthanded empty-net goal with six seconds remaining. Cesana assisted on the play to cap the 6–3 win.
Vinnie Purpura earned the win in net for the Ghost Pirates, stopping 24 of 27 shots. Garin Bjorklund made 14 saves on 19 shots before Seth Eisele went a perfect 5-for-5 in relief for South Carolina.
The Ghost Pirates return to action Saturday night on the road for the second game of the weekend set against the Stingrays. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on FloHockey and broadcast on Mixlr. Tickets and additional information on upcoming games are available at ghostpirateshockey.com.
— GHOST PIRATES —
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