Gladiators fall short against Stingrays

DULUTH -- The Gwinnett Gladiators fell a goal short on Sunday, 3-2 in a shootout against the Stingrays. With the win South Carolina (14-9-0-1) moved one point up on the Glads (10-8-5-3) in the South Division.

It didn't take long for Gladiators forward Joey Haddad to get back in the swing of things coming off his four-game suspension. Gwinnett's leading scorer ended up with the puck at the near circle and beat Stingrays goalie Daren Machesny just 17 seconds into the opening period with assists from Tyler Murovich and Dallas Jackson.

At the 14:58 mark of the first period however, South Carolina defenseman Nick Tabiz put the puck pass Gladiators netminder Jeff Jakaitis to tie the game 1-1.

Gwinnett and South Carolina remained tied at one through the second period, with Jakaitis making several key stops to keep the game even.

The Stingrays took the lead with a one-timer from Trent Campbell at the top of the right wing circle 11:34 into the third period to put the Rays up 2-1.

The Gladiators did not relent, as they were able to come back at the 16:39 mark of the third period. Colin Vock redirected a shot taken by Shane Sims at the point to tie the game at 2-2 after force overtime. Justin Milo had the other assist.

The Gladiators killed off a penalty and kept the Rays off the scoresheet in the overtime, leading to a shootout.

In the first round, the Stingrays Trent Campbell buried the puck passed Jakaitis to put South Carolina ahead. But Gladiators Andy Brandt beat Machesny in round two to tie the shootout 1-1.

South Carolina's Zach Tarkir netted the game winner in the sixth round of the shootout sneaking the puck under the blocker arm of Jakaitis, to saddle the Glads with the shootout loss.

Gwinnett will be back at home Thursday evening at 7:05 p.m. to take on the Florida Everblades for the seventh time this season.