SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Savannah Ghost Pirates, proud ECHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers, dropped a heartbreaker to the Toledo Walleye, 5–4, on Monday night at Enmarket Arena.
Toledo opened the scoring at the 8:44 mark of the first period. After being denied on a penalty shot moments earlier, Sam Craggs capitalized on the power play, scoring from the slot to make it 1–0.
The Walleye doubled their lead just 21 seconds later when Dennis Smirnov dropped a pass in transition to Brendon Michaelian, who one-timed a shot from the left circle to make it 2–0.
Savannah responded with 7:55 remaining in the first when Bryce Brodzinski rifled a shot in from the left side to cut the deficit to 2–1. Matt Koopman recorded the lone assist.
Toledo extended its lead again 5:39 into the second period when Reilly Funk cut to the middle and scored his first professional goal to make it 3–1.
The Ghost Pirates answered late in the second as Nicholas Zabaneh chased down a loose puck and tucked it in on the backhand with 7:56 remaining to make it 3–2.
The Walleye pushed the lead to 4–2 just 1:50 into the third period when Conlan Keenan scored from in tight.
Savannah responded immediately when Connor Gregga one-timed a shot from the right side to bring the score to 4–3. Logan Drevitch and Chris Lipe assisted on the goal.
The Ghost Pirates tied the game at 12:27 of the third period when Ryan Sullivan snapped a shot from the right side to make it 4–4.
Toledo regained the lead just 18 seconds later after a turnover behind the net, with Tanner Dickinson finishing the play to secure the 5–4 win.
Carter Gylander earned the victory for Toledo, stopping 25 of 29 shots. Vinnie Purpura made 40 saves on 45 shots for Savannah.
The Ghost Pirates return to action Friday night against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on FloHockey and broadcast on Mixlr. Tickets and additional information about upcoming home games are available at ghostpirateshockey.com.
— GHOST PIRATES —
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