South Carolina drops its third straight

The South Carolina Stingrays could do little wrong during their nine-game unbeaten streak earlier in the month.

Now, the Stingrays can't seem to do anything right as they dropped their third straight ECHL game, losing to Gwinnett, 5-2, Saturday night before a crowd of 4,848 at the North Charleston Coliseum.

The Gladiators, who have not lost to the Stingrays in regulation in six games this season, improved to 8-3-2 (18 points). The Stingrays dropped to 9-5-4 (22 points) on the season.

The Stingrays frustrations, which began with a 7-0 loss to Charlotte on Wednesday night, have only continued after back-to-back losses against to their South Division rivals.

"It's been a couple of frustrating nights for us that's for sure," said Stingrays head coach Cail MacLean.

"We've done some good things against Gwinnett, we've had our moments, but every time we've made a mistake the last three games the puck has ended up in the back of our net."

South Carolina's power play was the main culprit Saturday against the Gladiators, as the Stingrays went 0 for 9 with the man advantage.

Trailing 2-0 early in the second period, the Stingrays had a golden opportunity to get back into the game with an extended two-man advantage.

After a cross-checking penalty on Drew Paris, the Gladiators were hit with a double-minor high sticking penalty when Chad Denny drew blood on Stingrays forward Gregg Johnson 48 seconds later.

Then Tim Filangieri and Scott Marchesi were called for back-to-back delay of game penalties when they knocked the puck over the glass within 39 seconds of each other.

In all, the Stingrays were on the two-man advantage for almost four minutes and did not score.

"We tried one power play and it wasn't working and we went with something else," MacLean said. "We don't want to take shots just to have them bounce off of someone's shin pad, but we need to do a better job of creating shot opportunities."

The Stingrays regained some momentum when they killed of their own extended five-on-three penalty later in the second period.

"That was a huge penalty kill for us," MacLean said. "You've got to give the guys credit for sticking with it."

After stopping 25 straight shots, the Stingrays finally figured out Gwinnett goalie Danny Taylor when Matt Scherer's wrist shot found the back of the net to cut the gap to 2-1 with 1:42 left in the second period.

Stingrays defenseman Dylan Yeo snuck in from the blue line to tie the game off a beautiful assist from Rob Ricci from behind the net seven minutes into the third period.

"I thought we were on our way after Dylan's goal," MacLean said. "We seemed to grab all the momentum at that point."

But it wasn't meant to be as the Gladiators scored the final three goals of the game.

Slap shots

@Forward Trent Campbell was called up to Worchester, of the American Hockey League.

@Defenseman Patrick Wellar was called up to Hershey, of the AHL.

@Joe Finley left the game in the second period with an upper body injury.

@Jake Hauswirth (upper body), Josh Godfrey (lower body) and Zach Jones (lower body) were out of the lineup with injuries.

@Nate Kiser returned to the lineup after missing four games with an upper body injury.

Gwinnett 2 0 3 - 5

Stingrays 0 1 01 - 2

First Period: 1. G, Siddall 2 (Forney), 5:58. 2. G, Sullivan 2 (Denny, Francis), 10:53. Penalties: Brocklehurst, G (slashing), 4:35; Carbery, SC (hooking), 5:32; Kroll, SC (delay of game), 7:23; K. Johnson, SC (interference), 12:28.

Second Period: 3. SC, Scherer 5 (Ricci, Finley), 18:18. Penalties: Sullivan, G (fighting), 04; Carbery, SC (fighting), :04; Paris, G (cross checking), 4:06; Denny, G (double-minor, high sticking), 4:48; Filangieri, G (delay of game), 5:49; Marchesi, G (delay of game), 6:28; Yeo, SC (hooking), 11:39; Finley, SC (high sticking), 11:58; Tarkir, SC (tripping), 19:12.

Third Period: 4. SC, Yeo 2 (Ricci, Dubuc), 6:58. 5. G, Galivan 6 (unassisted), 7:44. 6. G, Berti 3 (Galivan, Siddall), 9:36. 7. G, Kaufman 1 (Denny, Marchesi), 19:48. Penalties: Bench minor, G (too many men on the ice), 1:24; Johnson, SC (cross checking), 2:38; Yeo, SC (boarding), 8:05; Forney, G (holding), 12:39; Kiser, SC (double-minor, roughing, slashing), 16:24.

Shots on goal: Stingrays 9-17-9-35; Gwinnett: 7-11-10-28. Penalties: Stingrays 11-28; Gwinnett 10-23. Power play: Stingrays 0 of 9; Gwinnett 2 of 9. Goalies: Stingrays - Todd Ford (6-4-1) 28 shots, 23 saves. Gwinnett - Danny Taylor (5-2-2) 35 shots, 33 saves. Att: 4,848.