Gwinnett Gladiators Fall 4-1 in South Carolina

The South Carolina Stingrays knocked off the Gwinnett Gladiators 4-1 Sunday afternoon at North Charleston Coliseum, moving the Rays (31-22-3-1) back into contention behind first-place Gwinnett (30-16-7-4) in the ECHL’s South Division.

Bryan Brutlag opened the scoring at 2:53 of the first, redirecting a Tyler Kindle shot from the point through the legs of Stingrays goalie Philipp Grubauer. Justin Milo also assisted on the goal, and Gwinnett took an early lead.

South Carolina answered right back at 9:51, as Trent Campbell beat Gwinnett goaltender Ryan Zaposki high glove-side from close in to even the score at 1-1 through 20 minutes.

The Stingrays added to their lead in the second, with Zach Tarkir blasting a one-timer from the point past Zapolski at 2:43 and Matt Scherer tacking on a shorthanded goal at 5:17. South Carolina outshot Gwinnett 13-3 in the period and had a 28-10 edge in the shot department at the end of two periods.

The only goal of the third was an empty-netter from Maxime Lacroix in the waning seconds, as the Gladiators mustered some chances late but fell to South Carolina for the second straight night, 4-1.

Ryan Zapolski stopped 30 shots in his first regulation loss since joining the Gladiators, while Grubauer made 19 saves for his 21st win of the season for South Carolina.

The Gladiators are next in action Wednesday, Feb.29 at 7:05 p.m. at the . They play host to the Stingrays.

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