When the team ahead of you in the division comes to town for three games, each should be expected to go down to the wire. Such was the case in two of the three meetings this week between at Germain Arena.

The Florida Everblades trailed Greenville by two points in the South Division standings with the Road Warriors having five games in hand in overall play when they visited Southwest Florida for 3 games carrying importance.

Wednesday’s meeting was a 5-2 blowout win for the Everblades.

Friday’s was a come-from-behind 3-2 win for the Road Warriors.

Saturday night, the last between the rivals for the regular season, lived up to the billing for rivals fighting for control of the division – a 4-3 shootout loss for the Everblades in which both teams sent nearly their entire bench to the ice once, before the Road Warriors eventually put more pucks in the net.

“After that first period it did not look like we had (a) chance of getting a point out of the game,” said Everblades coach Greg Poss.

Like Friday night’s loss, the Everblades came out flat, taking until the second period before starting to play motivated hockey.

Defenseman Ethan Graham tied the contest 1-1 for the Everblades in the second period where the score remained heading into the final period of play.

Alex Hutchings scored twice for the Blades, both goals coming about two minutes apart in the first nine minutes of the final period, giving the Blades a 3-1 lead and the chance to steal two from Greenville. The Road Warriors came screaming back, getting the score to 3-2 28 seconds after Hutchings’ second goal. They would tie the game with less than five minutes to play in regulation.

“We got that 3-1 lead and then we got scrambly in our play,” said Poss. “We have to learn to have confidence in those situations and not run around.”

After the three-game series, the Everblades only lost one point to the Road Warriors in the standings, something the Blades can take as a moral victory as they hit the road for two games against the Gwinnett Gladiators next week.