First-place Rays beaten by Gwinnett

The Stingrays had plenty of luck Friday night against the Gwinnett Gladiators.

Unfortunately most of it was bad luck.

Tom Zanoski recorded a hat trick and Danny Taylor stopped 40 shots to lead Gwinnett past South Carolina, 5-2, before a crowd of 4,166 at the North Charleston Coliseum.

The Gladiators improved to 7-3-2 (16 points), while the Stingrays fell 9-4-4 (22 points), but remained in first place in the ECHL's South Division.

Despite outplaying the Gladiators for large chunks of the game, the Stingrays were on the wrong end of several bad bounces and bad breaks.

"It was really strange game," said Stingrays head coach Cail MacLean. "I really liked the way we played the first couple of periods. We put a lot of pressure on them, but we had some unfortunate breaks in our end and didn't get much luck. It seemed like every time we made a mistake it ended up in the back on our net, and it's not like we made a ton of mistakes."

Coming off a 7-0 loss Wednesday night in Charlotte, the Stingrays were hoping to rebound against the Gladiators.

"After the way we played against Charlotte we were looking to bounce back and have a good game," said winger Matt Scherer. "Honestly, I thought we played pretty well tonight. We spent a lot of time in their zone, but we couldn't capitalize when we did get our chances. It seemed like they took advantage of every break they got."

For the most part, MacLean said he was pleased with the effort, including a strong second period during which the Stingrays had a 17-9 edge in shots but managed just one goal.

"We had a great second period and probably should have come out with a couple of goals," MacLean said. "Everybody stuck with the program and didn't get discouraged. We turned up the pressure and we put ourselves in really good situations. We just need to finish those chances in the future."

There was little doubt that Taylor was the difference in the game, stopping 40 of the 42 shots he faced.

"No question, Danny Taylor played well," MacLean said. "He made every save he needed to make."

Zanoski gave the Gladiators a 1-0 lead just three minutes into the game off a rebound from Chad Denny.

Matt Fornataro tied the game with his slap shot at the 6:42 mark of the opening period. But the Stingrays' celebration was short-lived, as Matt Siddall scored a minute later to give the Gladiators a 2-1 advantage at the first intermission.

Aaron Brocklehurst took advantage of a strange bounce off the backboards to give the Gladiators a 3-1 lead.

Stingrays rookie Nikita Kashirsky pounced on a loose puck in the crease to cut the gap to 3-2 with a minute left in the second period.

Zanoski got the final two goals of the game for the final margin of victory.

First Period: 1. G, Zanoski 7 (Denny, Forney), 3:04. 2. SC, Fornataro 6 (Carbery, Ford), 6:42. Penalties: Francis, G (slashing), 9:53.

Second Period: 4. G, Brocklehurst 3 (Mifsud, Siddall), 4:17. 5. SC, Kashirsky 10 (Yeo, Campbell), 19:11. Penalties: Scherer, SC (hooking), 12:55; Paris, G (holding), 17:08; Forney, G (hooking), 18:39.

Third Period: 6. G, Zanoski 8 (Mifsud, Berti), 6:38. 7. G, Zanoski 9 (Brocklehurst), 19:00. Penalties: Denny, G (roughing), 4:32; Siddall, G (hooking), 4:32; Wellar, SC (roughing), 4:32; Forney, G (roughing), 13:18; Campbell, SC (double-minor, hooking, boarding), 13:18.

Shots on goal: Stingrays 12-17-13-42; Gwinnett: 7-9-9-25. Penalties: Stingrays 4-8; Gwinnett 6-12. Power plays: Stingrays 1 of 4; Gwinnett 0 of 2. Goalies: Stingrays - Todd Ford (6-3-1) 24 shots, 20 saves. Gwinnett - Danny Taylor (4-2-2) 42 shots, 40 saves. Att: 4,166.