ESTERO, Fla. – Four second-period goals proved to be the difference on Saturday night as the Manchester Monarchs took the first win of their current Florida trip, a 4-3 victory against the Florida Everblades.
Those four goals came after a pair of first-period goals tallied by Florida’s Jake Cox and Patrick Bajkov, the second coming just moments before the first intermission.
Manchester didn’t answer until Daniil Miromanov’s wrist shot 11:33 into the second period, a goal that began Manchester’s scoring barrage.
Approximately five minutes after that first goal, Nic Pierog and Drake Rymsha proved their goals just eight seconds apart, and Tony Cameranesi added a power-play goal just five seconds before the end of the period.
The Everblades bring their deficit back down to one 3:03 into the third period off John McCarron’s wraparound goal, but Cole Kehler managed to shut things down the rest of the way, finishing with 41 saves and his first win in February.
Florida’s loss puts them one point behind Cincinnati for the best record in the league at 35-12-5-0. Meanwhile, Manchester (27-23-1-1) holds on in the North Division’s dogfight, with third place and seventh place divided by just five points.
The Monarchs return to action Sunday, February 17 at 1:30 p.m., when they take on the Orlando Solar Bears at the Amway Center.