Special teams woes sink Icemen against Everblades Wednesday

Turning point: Will Reilly scored the opening goal 2:36 into the game and the Florida Everblades skated away from there, defeating the Jacksonville Icemen 5-2 in Wednesday night's ECHL hockey in Estero.

Three stars: 1. Bobo Carpenter, Florida (two goals, one assist). 2. Oliver Chau, Florida (one goal, two assists). 3. Reilly, Florida (one goal, one assist).

Penalty box: Garret Cockerill received a cross-checking major and a game misconduct in the first period for the Icemen. ... The penalty kill struggled for Jacksonville, with Florida (38-23-7-2) putting away three of five power-play opportunities.

Around the rink: Icemen goalie Matt Vernon was pulled after allowing five goals on 19 shots, with Joe Murdaca working the rest of the way. ... Matheson Iacopelli and Brendan Harris scored the goals for the Icemen (41-22-5-1). ... Jacksonville must win one of its remaining three games to clinch a top-two seed and home ice advantage for the opening round of the Kelly Cup playoffs. ... The top of the South Division is tightly bunched, with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (89 points) leading the Icemen (88), the Everblades (85), the South Carolina Stingrays (84) and the Orlando Solar Bears (83).

Up next: After a long road trip, the Icemen return home to meet the Savannah Ghost Pirates at 7 p.m. Friday at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.

The Times-Union

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Special teams woes sink Icemen against Everblades Wednesday