(GREENVILLE, S.C.) – Keaton Mastrodonato cut the deficit to two late on a perfect 2/2 power play for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, but it wasn’t enough to overcome an early 5-1 deficit in a wild first-ever meeting against the Bloomington Bison, who rode Grant Porter’s five assists and eight multi-point scorers to an 8-5 win on Thursday night. 

The Swamp Rabbits and Bison exchanged six goals in the opening frame, a season-high total goals in a period for the Swamp Rabbits. Chongmin Lee got the Bison on the board at 2:07 on the power play, and was answered by Tim Rego 32 seconds later to square the game at 1-1 for the Swamp Rabbits. The Bison then went on a 5-0 scoring run that carried into the second period, with four coming in the final 14:27. Parker Gavlas deflected a Mikhail Abramov shot at 5:33 and was followed by Deni Goure 2:50 later at 8:23 to push the Bison ahead 3-1. Brenden Datema rifled a shot from the point through traffic at 12:01 to extend the lead to 4-1, prompting the removal of Pierce Charleson in net for the Swamp Rabbits after allowing four goals on eight shots, paving the way for Simon Latkoczy to make his professional debut. Sullivan Mack was alone in front of Latkoczy with 5:03 to play, providing Bloomington with a commanding 5-1 lead entering the intermission.

Lou-Felix Denis rounded out the scoring run with a laser under the bar at 8:24 of the second to bring the Bison lead to 6-1, but the Swamp Rabbits started to chip away, scoring four of the next six goals in the game. On the Swamp Rabbits first power play of the game, Parker Berge zipped a wrist shot through traffic that bested Bison goalie Dryden McKay, cutting the deficit to 6-2. Berge was answered by the ECHL’s second-leading scoring defenseman, Nikita Sedov, who wrapped around the Swamp Rabbits net and picked up a rebound to re-establish the five-goal gap at 7-2 with 6:30 to play. Caiden Gault then sprung on a break with 4:21 to go, dekeing out McKay to start a 3-0 run for the Swamp Rabbits, making it 7-3 heading into the final period.

Ben Poisson gave the Swamp Rabbits life at 5:00 of the third, picking up a turnover and ringing a shot off of both posts and in, slashing the difference to 7-4. Keaton Mastrodonato added to his career-high goal tally with his 26^th, rifling a shot through traffic on the final Swamp Rabbits power play to close the separation to 7-5 with 4:01 left in the game. Latkoczy was pulled late for the extra attacker, but the Swamp Rabbits furious comeback was thwarted with Sullivan Mack’s empty-net strike with 54 seconds remaining, giving the Bison an eventual wild 8-5 win.

Pierce Charleson stopped four of eight shots in 12:01 of his start. He was relived by Simon Latkoczy, who made his professional debut and stopped 20 of 23 shots in 46:19, suffering the loss (0-1-0-0).

The Swamp Rabbits play their final five games at home, continuing tomorrow with their three-game set with the Bloomington Bison. Puck drop at Bon Secours Wellness Arena is slated for 7:05 p.m. EST on April 11^th, which is “Fan Appreciation Night”, presented by Fluor, featuring the warmup jerseys in game action followed by a jersey auction after the game.

###

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.