Gwinnett posts shooout win over Lynx, 3-2

DULUTH - Ryan Mahrle collected the game winning shootout goal for Gwinnett in the sixth round while Mike Vigilante netted a pair of goals to help the Gwinnett Gladiators to a 3-2 shootout win over the Augusta Lynx on Tuesday night at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.

With the win, Gwinnett remains in second place in the ECHL's South Division with 31 points while improving to 15-5-1 on the year. Derek Nesbitt notched a pair of assists to extend his point scoring streak to nine games.

Gwinnett broke a scoreless tie in the second period on Vigilante's 9th goal of the season just 6:53 into the period. Parked on the opposite post on the power play, Vigilante took a rink wide-pass from Jeff Campbell and stuffed the puck past Augusta netminder J.P Levasseur for the marker. Nesbitt also recorded an assist on the goal for Gwinnett to extend his assist streak to a league-high nine consecutive games for the Gladiators.

Igor Pohanka tied the game at one at the 13:58 mark of the second period. Pohanka slid past a pair of Gladiators defensemen in the slot and flipped the puck past Gwinnett netminder Dan Turple for the goal. Bobby Bolt and Eric Lundberg had the assists on the goal for the Lynx.

Augusta took a 2-1 lead on Pohanka's second goal of the contest for the Lynx just 5:20 into the third period. The marker came on the power play with Bolt and Matt Auffrey notching the assists on the marker for Augusta.

Gwinnett answered with Vigilante's second goal of the game and his 10th of the season on the power play. In a similar fashion to his first goal, vigilante took a rink wide pass and jammed the puck past Levasseur for the marker at the 6:13 mark of the third period. Nesbitt and Campbell again added the assists for Gwinnett on the goal.

Both teams had power play chances in the overtime period but neither team could capitalize sending the game to overtime. Campbell and Lou Dickenson scored for Gwinnett while Aaron Slattengren and Auffrey collected shootout goals for Augusta sending the contest into a sudden death sixth round where Mahrle eventually won the contest for Gwinnett.

Turple finished with 42 saves for the Gladiators in the win, including 7 in the overtime session alone. Gwinnett finished 2-for-6 on the power play in the victory while Augusta finished 1-for-4 on the man advantage.