GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits erased a late 3-2 deficit with a 6-on-4 power play goal before winning in overtime, 4-3, over the South Carolina Stingrays on Thursday night.
After a scoreless first period, South Carolina’s Dan DeSalvo notch the first goal of the contest at 9:16 of the middle frame. DeSalvo raced up the left wing on the 2-on-1 rush and fired a shot bar-down on Greenville netminder Ryan Bednard to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.
The Stingrays doubled their lead on the power play at the 17:15 mark of the period. Stingrays forward Graham Knott tipped a low shot at the net front past Bednard to provide a 2-0 advantage.
Only 20 seconds later, Greenville’s Patrick Bajkov cut the Rabbits’ deficit to one. Bajkov fired a shot from the center point to beat Stingrays goaltender Jake Kupsky.
Greenville managed to completely erase their 2-0 deficit before second intermission. Down 2-1, Jacob Hayhurst converted a South Carolina defensive zone turnover into his first professional goal at 19:16.
Early in the third period at the 1:13 mark, South Carolina found the go-ahead tally. DeSalvo potted his second goal of the evening to provide his club a 3-2 lead.
Last Sunday, the Swamp Rabbits scored in the final minute on a 6-on-4 power play chance to force overtime. Tonight, the opportunity once against presented itself after Justin Florek was whistled for delay of game at 19:06. After Head Coach Andrew Lord used his lone timeout, Greenville again found the late equalizer with 28.3 seconds left in the third period. Bajov rang the iron, but Matt Bradley put away the rebound to tie the game at 3-3.
In overtime, Max Zimmer raced into the South Carolina zone along the right wing and snapped home the game-winner at 2:56. Greenville improved their record to 7-4-5-2 on the season and split the home-and-home with the Stingrays.
The Swamp Rabbits return to action on Saturday night and battle the Jacksonville Icemen at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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ABOUT US
Acquired by Spire Sports + Entertainment (SS+E) in 2020, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits hockey team have been providing family friendly, live entertainment at Bon Secours Wellness Arena since 2010. Formerly the Greenville Road Warriors, the Swamp Rabbits are the highest level professional minor league franchise in South Carolina. The Swamp Rabbits are proud affiliates of the NHL’s Florida Panthers and AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Greenville is a member of the ECHL, Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League. Since the conclusion of the 2019-20 NHL Season, 678 former ECHL players have debuted in the NHL. Nine former Greenville Road Warriors/Swamp Rabbits have later made their NHL debut