SWAMP RABBITS FALL DESPITE LATE PUSH

Greenville, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits offensive struggles continued against their in-state rivals, suffering their fourth straight loss at the hands of the South Carolina Stingrays on Thursday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena by a 2-1 final score.

In the opening frame, South Carolina controlled the puck for the majority of the time thanks to three Swamp Rabbit minor penalties. David Hrenak denied all 9 shots faced in the first twenty minutes, keeping the league’s best power play at bay. Stingrays’ goaltender Tyler Wall faced pressure in the crease on multiple occasions, but ultimately kept the score deadlocked at zero heading into the middle frame. 

Carrying power play time into the start of the second period, South Carolina wasted no time in getting on the board first.  With 18 seconds gone by in the middle frame, Bear Hughes found Austin Magera from behind the net and in the slot area, banking the puck past Swamp Rabbits netminder David Hrenak to give the Stingrays a 1-0 lead (Hughes and Michael Kim assisted). The Swamp Rabbits attacked the Stingrays net, taking the shot lead at 22-17 after forty minutes, but were denied by Tyler Wall each time. Carter Souch rang a shot off the crossbar just minutes after the first Stingrays goal, and Brett Kemp had two great opportunities to light the lamp, missing glove side. Greenville went 0/2 on the power play in the second period. 

In the third, the Stingrays replicated their opening goal in the middle frame while carrying over power play time once again. Just 1:19 into the final period, Max Humitz tipped in a shot from teammate Robbie Stucker over Hrenak's shoulder, doubling the Stingrays lead to 2-0 (Stucker and Kim assisted). After multiple chances and no success, including a power play halfway through the third, Hrenak was pulled for the extra skater with 3:37 left in the contest. In an odd sequence of events, Dallas Gerads provided Greenville with some life in the final minute of the game. With 35.6 seconds left, Tyler Wall attempted to fire the puck down the length of the ice. Gerads blocked his attempt, and the puck rolled into a wide open net, breaking the shutout and putting the Swamp Rabbits on the board trailing 2-1 (the goal was unassisted). Despite the late jolt, Greenville couldn't net the equalizer, and South Carolina came away with the two points and a 2-1 win on Thursday night. 

With the loss, the Swamp Rabbits (36-23-8-1, 81pts) stay put in the fourth-place spot in the South Division standings with four games to play in the season. Greenville’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot remains at three, with another chance to clinch as early as tomorrow night. 

The Swamp Rabbits stay at Bon Secours Wellness Arena for two more games this weekend with the Orlando Solar Bears, continuing tomorrow, Friday, April 7th. The first of back-to-back games with Orlando to close out the season series is slated for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.Swamp Rabbits tickets can be purchased at SwampRabbits.com or at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena Box Office.