Behind New Acquisitions, Admirals Defeat Gladiators

DULUTH, GA - The Norfolk Admirals, proud ECHL affiliates of the Carolina Hurricanes, beat the Atlanta Gladiators 4-3 on the road Friday night. 

The Admirals scored just 62 seconds into the game on a goal from Ryan Valentini. 

The Admirals were able to extend their lead to two later in the period on a goal from Joe Widmar with 11:34 remaining in the first. Both Widmar and Valentini were acquired from the Indy Fuel on Wednesday and made their Admirals debut against the Gladiatos.

The Admirals continued their first period dominance with a Cody Milan goal with 3:04 remaining in the period.

Atlanta opened up the second period with a goal of their own from Hugo Roy to cut the Admirals' lead to two.

The Gladiators scored again later in the second period on a goal from Derek Topatigh to cut Norfolk's lead to one.

With 6:06 left in the game, Atlanta tied the game up at three goals on another goal from Topatigh. 

20 seconds later, Greg Betzold scored the game-winning goal for Norfolk. Betzold was also acquired this week by the Admirals. 

Michael Bullion registered his first ECHL win making 32 saves.

With the win, the Admirals move to 19-30-2-3 and are back in action on Saturday, March 12th when they travel to take on the South Carolina Stingrays.