Gwinnett Gladiators Win on 'Pink In The Rink' Night

Friday night's matchup between the Gwinnett Gladiators and the Wheeling Nailers at the Gwinnett Arena was an exciting and high-scoring game.  In the end, the Gladiators held off the Nailers in a 6-5 victory. 

The rink's ice was tinted pink for the Arena's "Pink In The Rink" night to bring awareness to breast cancer.

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The Gladiators attacked first 49 seconds into the opening period.  The Nailers did not take long to answer, scoring 2 minutes and 26 seconds into the period.  With 7:37 left in the first period the Nailers struck again, thereby taking a 2-1 lead. 

However, Gwinnett quickly tied the score 2-2 with 3:04 remaining in the first period.  That was not the end of the goals in this high scoring first period.  The Nailers struck again with about 2:30 remaining in the period, taking the lead again, 3-2.

The second period started slow; however, with 10:16 left of the second period the Nailers struck again taking a 2-point lead over the Gladiators.  Not to be outdone, the Gladiators fought back and scored their third goal of the night shortly thereafter. 

The second period was full of action.  At one point, the players even managed to knock the plexiglass out of i's casing.  Luckily, no fans or players were hurt by the flying safety glass.

Two minutes and 34 seconds into the third period, the Nailers scored their fifth goal of the night thus taking back their 2-point lead.  This marked the beginning of a great comeback by the Gladiators.  Twenty-eight seconds later the Gladiators answered back knocking down the Nailers' lead.  Five minutes into the third period Gwinnett scored the game-tying goal.  Shortly thereafter the Gladiators scored the game-winning goal. 

On Saturday, the Gladiators face off against Florida at 7:05 p.m.