GREENVILLE, SC – Nikita Pavlychev's double-overtime winner and John Lethemon's 56-save performance lifted the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to a 4-3 Game 5 victory over the Florida Everblades on Saturday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, forcing a Game 6 on Monday night.
GAME SHEET: Click here
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 2OT | Final | |
GVL | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
FLA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
After a back-and-forth opening to the game, the Everblades scored the opening goal of the game, a power-play strike, as Stefan Leblanc scored his second of the series at 15:14. In the second, Greenville was forced to kill another penalty, but saw the Everblades net a second goal, as Matteo Gennaro scored his fourth of the series at the 14:29 mark.In the third, Greenville snapped its scoring droubt as Max Zimmer fed Johnny Coughlin on the back post at 8:52. Shortly after, at 10:37, Blake Winiecki scored another Florida power-play goal for the 3-1 lead. At 14:02, Ayden MacDonald scored his second of the series to bring the Rabbits into a 3-2 deficit. At 18:49, after a MacDonald shot hit the post, Liam Pecararo tied the game at 3-3, forcing the overtime period.After the first overtime period yielded no change in the scoring, the two sides headed to the second extra frame. At 8:51 in the second overtime, Greenville's Nikita Pavlychev forced Game 6 after firing a rebound into the Florida net.At the end of the night Swamp Rabbits goaltender John Lethemon denied 56 of 59 Florida shots for his second victory of the post season.With the win, the Swamp Rabbits close the series gap to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series to the Everblades. The Swamp Rabbits and the Everblades return to the ice on Monday night at Hertz Arena in Estero, FL for Game 6 at 7:30 p.m.Swamp Rabbits Single Game Tickets are on sale now! For more information or to secure your seats today call 864-674-PUCK (7825) or email INFO@SwampRabbits.com