Gladiators Tied for First With 4-1 Win Over Jackals

By Dustin Bixby
 
The Gwinnett Gladiators moved into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference with a 4-1 win over the Elmira Jackals on Saturday (Jan. 28) night at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. The win was the Gladiators' sixth straight on home ice.

For the second straight night, the Gladiators took a 2-0 first period lead on the Jackals.  Pat Galivan’s 16th goal of the season, a deflection off of Nikita Kashirsky’s slap shot from the right wing circle beat Timo Pielmeier for the marker. Dallas Jackson also had a helper on the goal at 8:13 of the first period giving Gwinnett a 1-0 lead.

A minute and 12 seconds later, Gladiator captain Paul Flache slid just inside the blue line and cranked a one-timer to give Gwinnett a 2-0 advantage at 9:25 into the period. Brian Brutlag and Joey Haddad collected the helpers on the goal.

At the 11:17 mark of the first, Elmira converted on their first power play chance of the game with a goal from Josh Britain who beat Gladiator netminder Jeff Jakaitis over his left shoulder to cut the lead 2-1. Jackals’ leading scorer Dustin Gazely and defenseman Mario Larocque collected the assists on the marker.

The Gladiators ended the opening period on top 2-1 and outshot the Jackals 12-to-6.

The Gladiators started the second period on a power play and Gwinnett capitalized. Just 42 seconds into the power play, Brian Brutlag found Justin Milo along the wall who sent the puck to the front of the cage for Tyler Murovich in the slot. Murovich beat Pielmeir to give the Glads a 3-1 lead.

Gwinnett clamped down defensively throughout the final two periods as the Jackals finished with just 17 shots in the game.

Milo rounded out the scoring for Gwinnett as he sent the puck into the Jackals empty net to seal the win for the Gladiators with 63 seconds left in the game. Milo’s goal and assist helped him continue a four-game point scoring streak. Brutlag collected his second assist on the night on the goal.

Gwinnett will return to the Arena at Gwinnett Center to host the Trenton Titans on Sunday (Jan. 29) afternoon at 4:05 pm.

(Editor's note: This report on the game was provided by Dustin Bixby, vice president of communications and new media for the Gwinnett Gladiators.)