Gladiators Put Road Warriors Away in a Shootout

Newcomer netminder Joe Palmer collected his first shootout win as a Gwinnett Gladiator in a 3-2 win over the Greenville Road Warriors in front of 10,082 on Saturday (Feb. 4) night at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. Gwinnett pads its lead in first place in the Eastern Conference moving to 60 points on the season.

The Greenville Road Warriors took an early lead at 7:36 into the opening period with a power play goal from defenseman Wes Cunningham to give Greenville a 1-0 advantage. Road Warrior Bretton Cameron picked up the helper on the first marker. 

Later in the period, the Gladiators answered with a man-advantage goal from Nikita Kashirsky at the right wing circle at the16:22 mark. Kashisrky’s goal extended his point-scoring streak to ten games, giving him his eighth goal in his stretch. Defenseman Brad Miller had the first assist and netminder Jeff Jakaitis notched his first helper of the season on the tying goal. 

At 6:17 into the second period, Brandon Wong crashed into Jakaitis inside the cage. Jakaitis skated back to the locker room and did not return to the game. Palmer came in from the bench to take Jakaitis’ place in the net. 

Greenville broke the 1-1 tie with goal from Wong, who got by the Gladiator defense to beat Palmer in the slot. Jeremy Gouchie and Francis Meilleur had the assists on the goal at 11:26 of the second.

The Gladiators regrouped after the goal from the Road Warriors with a power play marker to tie the game 2-2. Pat Galivan found Dallas Jackson at the top where he teed up and buried the puck pass Greenville goaltender Jason Missiaen. Jackson notched his fifth man-advantage goal on the season. Andy Brandt added the second assist on the tally at 16:54 of the period.

Defensive battle ensued in the third period, which led the game into overtime. The period ended as it began with the teams tied at two. After a scoreless overtime, the game headed into a shootout. 

Joey Haddad broke a 1-1 tie in the shootout and Pat Galivan put the game away with his fifth-round shootout goal. Palmer stopped four-of-five Road Warriors shooters to lift the Glads to a victory. 

The Gladiators will return to the to take on the Florida Everblades on Thursday (Feb. 9) at 7:05 p.m.

(Editor's note: Game report provided by the Gwinnett Gladiators.)