Anderson Carries Admirals To Thrilling Win

NORFOLK, VA. - Goaltender Brandon Anderson stopped 31 of 32 shots placed upon him on Friday, carrying his Norfolk Admirals (6-18-4-0) to a 2-1 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays (13-11-1-1).

The opening 20 minutes transpired at a scoreless 0-0 and a large credit of that goes to aforementioned Admirals netminder. Anderson, making just his third start with the team, made a highlight reel save with just over a minute left in the first period to rob Stingrays forward Joe Devin of what looked like a should-be goal.

When the second period came around, scoring was found, beginning with former Stingray Paul Rodrigues striking against his old team. The Admirals #11 disrupted a South Carolina possession in neutral ice and proceeded to work the puck to his teammate Ben Murphy along the left side wing. Upon entry of the zone, Murphy sent a pass way across the ice to Mikael Tam, where he would then center a feed for Rodrigues to wind up and crank past Parker Milner. For Tam, that now marks a point in all five games he's played with the team.

With a 1-0 lead, the Admirals would double that thanks to defenseman Gabriel Verpaelst. Captain Josh Brittain made an exiting pass from his own zone up to Murphy, who would soon collect his second assist of the night. From nearly the exact same location on the ice where he set up his pass to Tam, Murphy went cross-ice to Verpaelst, who opted to fire and would beat Milner short-side to extend the lead to 2-0.

South Carolina would get one back before the second period closed though, coming in the form of Rob Flick's 11th of the season. Flick started his team's transition out of their own end by going the entire width of the ice and connecting with defenseman Colton Saucerman. Saucerman, who was making his return to the lineup for the Stingrays, made a skilled pass along the boards to find a streaking Alex Gacek entering the Admirals zone. It only took but two seconds for Gacek to connect back with Flick, who beat Anderson for the Stingrays lone goal on the evening.

In the third, the Stingrays completely dominated play as the Admirals spent 8:20 of the final period short-handed. Brandon Anderson's stellar evening became complete, stopping everything sent his way despite South Carolina outshooting the Admirals 15-3. Norfolk would manage to hang on though and when the final buzzer sounded, the final score read 2-1 visitors.

The Admirals players and staff will now have a short holiday break before returning to business next weekend when the team travels to Elmira and Manchester. Both Friday's game in New York and Saturday's contest in New Hampshire can be seen live on ECHL.TV and heard with Pete Michaud on 102.1 FM The Tide.

Following the road trip the team returns home for eight games in January, starting on Wednesday, January 4 against the Adirondack Thunder. After the Thunder's first visit to town this year, the Elmira Jackals then make their way to Scope for their inaugural visit to the campaign over the weekend. Tickets for all games are on sale now on Ticketmaster.com and at the Norfolk Scope Arena box office.Box Score