Admirals Lead From Start to Finish, Defeat Stingrays

NORFOLK, VA - The Norfolk Admirals, proud ECHL affiliates of the Carolina Hurricanes, defeated the South Carolina Stingrays 6-4 at home on Friday night in the first of three matchups.

In his first game back since being assigned from the Chicago Wolves, assistant captain Chase Lang scored twice in the first period to take a 2-0 lead going into the intermission. The Admirals also had a successful penalty kill in the period, giving them momentum heading into the break. 

Aidan Brown opened up the second period for the Admirals, scoring less than five minutes into the period to give the Admirals a 3-0 lead. 

A Matt Carey cross-checking penalty would give South Carolina a man-advantage, which they capitalized on. With two seconds left in the power play, Ryan Dmowski scored to put the Stingrays on the board. 

Carey countered the Dmowski goal, scoring two minutes later to extend the Admirals lead back to three. 

Immediately following Carey's goal, South Carolina would get another power-play goal by Justin Florek to bring the game back within two. 

With less than three minutes remaining in the second period, Lang would score his third goal of the night, collecting a hat trick. Lang is only the second Admiral to record a hat trick on the season with the last coming from Marly Quince on December 10th in a 7-3 loss against the Florida Everblades. 

South Carolina would respond less than a minute after Lang's goal, cutting the Admirals lead back down to two.

With 13:48 remaining in the game, Carey would score his second goal of the night on an assist from Sam Thibault to regain a three-goal lead. The Stingrays would score the final goal of the game with six seconds remaining on another power-play goal. 

Dylan Wells had a solid game in between the pipes for the Admirals, recording 22 saves on 26 shots with numerous big saves. Wells also blocked a penalty shot in the second period from Lawton Courtnall.

With the victory, the Admirals snap their four game losing streak and improve to 14-19-1-1 on the season, and 2-2 in the season series against the Stingrays. The Admirals are back in action tomorrow, Saturday January 29th when they take on the Stingrays in the second of three matchups.