DULUTH, GA – Three third-period goals did in the Florida Everblades 4-2 Saturday night against the Gwinnett Gladiators.

Matt Caruana, Pat Galivan and Matt Francis all scored for the Gladiators in the final period, while the only Everblades goal came from Shea Guthrie on the power play. David Brown stopped 27 shots to record the victory for Gwinnett which kept its playoff hopes alive with the win.

The Everblades opened the scoring at 6:50 of the first period. Milan Gajic broke into the Gladiators zone on the right side and fed the late man coming into the zone, Dominic Osman, who fired the puck into the top left corner of the net. The Everblades outshot the Gladiators 9-7 in a fast-paced first period and took a 1-0 lead to the locker room.

The only goal of the second period came off the stick of Tom Zanoski, who picked up the puck in the low slot off a faceoff and backhanded a shot that beat Florida goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu. Matt Caruana and Pat Galivan picked up the assists to tie the score 1-1.

Gwinnett took its first lead of the game just 23 seconds into the third period on the power play. Galivan got a pass in the slot from Adam Berti and fired the puck past Beckford-Tseu for a 2-1 advantage. The Everblades evened the scored on the power play on Guthrie’s redirection from AJ Thelen’s point shot. Gwinnett struck for two goals 11 seconds apart to seal the victory.

The Everblades finish off their four-game road trip Sunday with their last visit to the Gwinnett Center. The Blades and Gladiators face off at 4:05 p.m.?