Pensacola, FL.: Tied 2-2 through 60 minutes of regulation, the Thunderbolts battled their way to a shootout, where they defeated the Ice Flyers 3-2 to secure their fourth win in a row on Saturday in Pensacola. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, February 28th against the Quad City Storm at 7:05pm CT.
The Thunderbolts opened the scoring in the first period as Myles Abbate scored off the rush through traffic from Cameron MacPhee and Matt Dorsey at the 13:09 mark to give Evansville the initial lead. Despite outshooting Pensacola 10-9 in the second period, it was the Ice Flyers who scored the lone goal, as Matt Wiesner scored at 13:00 to tie the game 1-1 going into the third period. At 5:53, Logan vande Meerakker took a net-front feed and maneuvered a shot into the net to give Evansville their second lead of the game, assisted by Tyson Gilmour and Scott Kirton. The Ice Flyers answered back with a power play goal at 15:01, as Nick Pryce scored on a deflection to tie the game and force overtime. Following a scoreless overtime and scoreless first round of the shootout, Kirton scored in the top of round 2 to give Evansville the shootout lead, supplemented by a 4th round goal from Aidan Litke, while Cole Ceci denied all four Pensacola attempts to lead the Thunderbolts to the 2-0 shootout victory and 3-2 overall game victory. Now on a season-high four game winning streak, Evansville improves to a winning record for the first time this season at 19-18-5.
Kirton scored the shootout-winning goal and an assist, Abbate and Vande Meerakker scored one goal each, and Cole Ceci finished with 33 saves on 35 shots on goal in regulation and overtime plus four more in the shootout for his 13th win of the season. The Thunderbolts and Ice Flyers meet for the final time this regular season on Sunday, February 23rd at Pensacola Bay Center, with Evansville clinching the regular season series victory with a 3-1 lead.
Individual game tickets and group packages are on sale for the 2024-25 season. Season tickets for the 2025-26 season are on sale now. Call 812-422-BOLT(2658) or visit our website (www.evansvillethunderbolts.com) for details.
