Francis meets OT winner in Gladiators decision over Icemen | Pro Hockey News

Duluth, GA – The Atlanta Gladiators defeated the Jacksonville Icemen 4-3 in overtime Friday night at Gas South Arena, overcoming a 3-1 deficit in the second period to win.

The Gladiators hosted the Icemen at Gas South Arena in the 7^e meeting of the season between the two clubs. TJ Semptimphelter started in net for the Gladiators, while Topias Leinonen started between the pipes for the Icemen in his debut appearance for Jacksonville.

The Icemen got off to a fast start, taking an early 1-0 lead just 1:08 into the game when Bennet MacArthur scored his 13.^e goal of the season from Craig Martin and Christopher Brown after a timp-in. Jacksonville doubled their lead to 2-0 just 4:41 later when James Hardie scored his 3^rd goal of the season from Nathan Berke and Ryan Pitoscia. In Jacksonville’s big first period, they led 2-0 after 20 minutes and outscored Atlanta 12-7.

After a sloppy first period, the Gladiators got some wind in their sails early in the second period when Cody Sylvester scored his 10.^e of the year from Joey Cipollone and Ryan Francis to make it a 2-1 game (2:21) in the middle frame. The Icemen responded nearly two minutes later, restoring their two-goal lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal from Craig Martin, his 9^e of the year, assisted by Adam McMaster and Holden Wale. The Gladiators were unphased and responded with a goal from Jack O’Brien (8:24) in Nolan Orzeck’s period to cut the deficit to one. O’Brien is 19^e The goal of the season was accomplished thanks to Orzeck’s hard work keeping the puck away from the Icemen and making it a 3-2 game. With 6:42 left in the second period, Alex Young scored the tying goal as his stick broke making it a 3-3 game. Young 15^e of the year was a power play goal by Chad Nychuk and Sylvester. Young’s stick broke on the release, sending the puck sliding across the ice and into the net past netminder Leinonen. With four minutes left in the third period, the match was stopped due to a medical emergency in the crowd and entered the second intermission. The Gladiators defeated the Icemen 3-1 in the second period and tied the match at 3-3 after two.

After the break, the Gladiators and Icemen resumed play and finished the last four minutes of the second period before entering the third period after a TV timeout. There was no scoring in the third period, but the Gladiators racked up a lot of good offensive zone time and began to tire the icemen surrounding them in their own zone. Leinonen left the game with about 15 minutes left in the third period and was replaced by Michael Bullion. With the game tied at 3-3 after three periods, the Gladiators and Icemen went to overtime.

Jacksonville had possession for all but 15 seconds of overtime, as the Icemen were able to control the puck during the opening shifts of overtime before coughing up the puck, leading to the game-winning goal. Ryan Francis buried Jack O’Brien and Nolan Orzeck’s winning goal to complete the comeback for the Gladiators and give them the 4-3 victory. Francis’ OT winner was his 4^e of the season and the 50^e of his professional career. Semptimphelter put in 22/25 in the win as the Gladiators went 1/3 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill.

With wins in three straight games, the Gladiators have improved to 30-10-1 on the season and will continue to soar to new heights on Wednesday night when they take on the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 PM EST, with coverage on the Gladiators Broadcast Network on FloHockey and YouTube beginning at 6:45 PM EST.