TRITT’S THREE-POINT NIGHT HEADLINES COME-FROM-BEHIND WIN

(GREENVILLE, S.C.) – Dawson Tritt potted his first two professional goals, including the sealing empty-netter, with an assist, Stuart Rolofs had the game-winner and two helpers, and Pierce Charleson made 30 saves as the Greenville Swamp Rabbits came from behind to overtake the Atlanta Gladiators 5-3 on Saturday night. The game served as the 13^th and final matchup against Atlanta, with the Swamp Rabbits posting a 9-3-1-0 record head-to-head.

Atlanta jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, thanks to two strikes from Joey Cipollone. His first came 5:09 into the contest when he jumped on an erratically bouncing puck and slammed it past Swamp Rabbits net-minder Pierce Charleson, giving the Gladiators a 1-0 lead (Derek Topatigh and Easton Armstrong assisted). He hit paydirt again on the power play with 6:06 left in the period, hacking a loosely bouncing puck in the slot area past Charleson to double the lead to 2-0 (Topatigh and Cody Sylvester assisted). Moments later, Jordan Power thought he halved the deficit with roughly four and a half minutes to go, but the goal was called off after review.

Kyle Haskins found a way to get the Swamp Rabbits on the board in the second period while on the power play, starting a 4-0 Swamp Rabbits run over the next two frames. At 8:42 of the second, Stepan Timofeyev exerted his patience and waited to hit Haskins backdoor, with the latter tapping the puck behind Gladiators goalie Drew DeRidder to cut the deficit to 2-1 (Timofeyev and Carter Savoie assisted).

For just the fourth time this season, the Swamp Rabbits won a game while down entering the final 20 minutes of play, continuing their scoring run with Dustin Geregach. Just 4:36 into the last frame, Geregach received a pass while in the midst of a lengthy Swamp Rabbits forecheck and, from an insane angle, sniped a shot from the far wall over DeRidder’s shoulder to square the game at 2-2 (Austin Saint and Brent Pedersen assisted). Exactly 72 seconds later, Dawson Tritt pocketed a rebound for his first goal as a professional, backhanding a loose puck in the net front past DeRidder to give the Swamp Rabbits their first, and only, lead of the game at 5:48 (Tyson Fawcett and Stuart Rolofs assisted). Rolofs represented the final goal in the run, shoveling the puck off a defender and into the Atlanta net to expand the Swamp Rabbits lead to 4-2 with 10:43 left in the game (Miles Gendron and Dawson Tritt assisted). The Gladiators ended the run on their last power play if the game with 3:13 remaining when Jackson Pierson deflected a Derek Topatigh shot past Charleson to close the gap to 4-3 (Topatigh and Sylvester assisted). Tritt put the exclamation point on his career-high night, burying an empty-netter to claim a 5-3 win for the Swamp Rabbits.

Pierce Charleson stopped 30 of 33 shots in earning his second pro win (2-3-1-0)

The Swamp Rabbits conclude their four game in five night sequence against their in-state rivals, the South Carolina Stingrays, on “Fan Appreciation Day”, presented by Fluor. Puck drop is slated for 3:05 p.m. EST at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

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About the Greenville Swamp Rabbits …
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 the proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL's LA Kings and the AHL's Ontario Reign. Greenville is a member of the ECHL, Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League.