Ryan VanBuskirk

The Florida Everblades skated past the CHL Mississippi Riverkings Friday in a preseason game at Germain Arena. Justin Peters turned back 27 shots, while the Blades buried 4 of their 32 chances to pick up the win.

Matt Melanson opened the scoring for the Blades on the power play. Melanson picked up a rebound of a Frank MacDonald shot and put it past Mississippi goaltender Larry Stirling for the early lead. Big Ernie Hartlieb added some insurance when he discovered a loose puck by the side of the net and banged it home. Newcomers Kyle McAllister and J. F. Bittner picked up the assists on that tally. They also added helpers on Jarrett Lukin's even strength goal just 1:23 seconds later. Lukin took a centering feed from Bittner and slipped it into the net for what would prove to be the game winning goal.

The Riverkings spent 12 minutes in the penalty box in the first period which worked in the Everblades favor as they put 22 shots on Sterling while the RiverKings could only muster 4.

Mississippi would put one on the board through late in the first when Ryan Campbell picked up a Dan Riedel pass from behind the net and muscled it by Peters with just over 2 minutes remaining in the perid.

The shot advantage would go to the Riverkings in the second period though 13-4, but Peters was up to the challenge. While there was no scoring in the second, Frank MacDonald squared off with Steve Makway to give the hometown crowd of 4,300+ a rush. The CHL crew spent an additional 8 minutes in the box prior the 2nd period fireworks, but the Blades could not get the power play working for them in the middle stanza.

Adam Taylor changed that in the 3rd through, making it 4-1 Blades as he worked the man advantage when he wristed a shot past Sterling. Hartlieb and defenseman Brandon Roach were credited with the assists on the play.

Jason Lawmaster would dance with Brad Herauf just under 7 and a half minutes into the final period and Ryan Van Buskirk tangled with Brian Mullally just past the 12 minute mark to add some fisticuff action to the scoring. Mississippi would manage to cut the score in half when Campbell picked up his 2nd tally of the night, when he rebounded a deflected blue line shot into the net with the man advantage.

Hartlieb picked up the 3rd star of the game for Florida, while Campbell's pair of tallies earned him 2nd Star of the game for the Riverkings. Taylor's goal and an assist for the winning team got him first star of the game.

The teams rematch Saturday night for the second of two exhibition games. The Everblades regular season begins Friday, October 19th as Florida hosts the Mississippi Sea Wolves for a 7:30 contest at Germain Arena. Tickets to both games are available that the Everblades box office and at all Ticketmaster locations.