ESTERO, Fla. – A hat trick by Logan Lambdin powered the Florida Everblades to an impressive 4-1 victory over the Orlando Solar Bears in front of a season-high standing room only crowd of 7,435 Saturday night at Hertz Arena.
The Everblades set the tone early, as Lambdin connected on the good guys’ first power-play shift of the game just 5:44 after the opening draw. Lambdin’s third goal of the season came exactly one minute into the five-on-four opportunity, as he buried a feed from Mike O’Leary with Colin Theisen also picking up an assist, as the Blades took a quick 1-0 lead.
Florida’s one-goal advantage would hold up through the remainder of the opening period and into the middle stages of the second, when Lambdin knocked home his second goal at the 11:26 mark. Lambdin spun around in the low slot and converted, with Carson Gicewicz and Colton Hargrove earning the helpers as the Blades doubled the lead to 2-0.
Orlando’s Aaron Luchuk responded just 61 seconds later, cutting the Everblades’ lead back to one goal, as Florida took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
Far from done, Lambdin finished off the hat trick with his third marker of the night, as the Everblades pulled ahead 3-1 at 5:28 of the third period. Hargrove picked up his second assist of the contest, while Gicewicz also added a helper as Lambdin sent the hats flying with a blast from between the circles.
An empty-net shorthanded goal by Connor Doherty closed out the scoring with 1:30 to play.
The Everblades outshot Orlando 23-18. In goal, Cam Johnson stopped 17 of 18 shots to win his fourth game in five starts this season.
The Blades and Bears will faceoff for the third straight game Monday night in Orlando with puck drop inside Kia Center slated for 7:00 p.m. Monday’s affair will open the Everblades’ four-game road trip which will continue with a 10:30 a.m. matinee Thursday at the Atlanta Gladiators followed by a pair of contests at the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Saturday, November 16 and Sunday, November 17 at 4:05 p.m. and 3:05 p.m., respectively.
The Everblades will return to action at Hertz Arena on Wednesday, November 20, as the boys lift the lid on a three-game set versus the Kalamazoo Wings at 7:30 p.m. That series will continue on Friday, November 22 at 7:30 p.m. and wrap up on Saturday, November 23 at 7:00 p.m. Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets.
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BLADES BITS
Logan Lambdin’s hat trick was the Everblades’ first since Bobo Carpenter found the net three times in a 5-3 win over host Atlanta on January 3, 2024. It also marked the second multi-goal performance by a Blade this season, matching the two goals registered by Jesse Lansdell in Florida’s 6-0 rout of Atlanta on October 26.
With goals in each of the three periods, Lambdin now has a team-high five goals this season through eight games. His power-play goal in the opening frame snapped a string of three games in which the Everblades went without a goal on the man advantage.
Led by Colton Hargrove’s team-leading fifth and sixth helpers of the season, four different Everblades registered assists in the victory. In addition to Hargrove, Carson Gicewicz also had two helpers, giving him four this season. Colin Theisen collected his third assist of the year, while Mike O’Leary logged his second.
The Military Night crowd of 7,435 fans was the largest at Hertz Arena this season and marked the second time in four openings this season that more than 7,000 fans were on hand for an Everblades game – both victories – in The Swamp.
Saturday Night’s Scoresheet
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