TWIN CITY AVOIDS WEEKEND SWEEP

FLORENCE, SC - The Pee Dee IceCats rallied late but could not complete the comeback as the Twin City Thunderbirds avoided the weekend sweep with a 3-2 win on Sunday.

At 17:13 of the first period, Nick Gullo deflected a Jordan Popoff shot past Twin City goaltender Chad Purdy, but the goal was called back on a video review. 

In the second, the Thunderbirds scored twice to grab the lead. The first was a power play goal off the stick of Gus Ford at 10:12 and then Jan Salak netted a shorthanded marker at 17:45 to make it 2-0 Twin City after 40 minutes.

Pee Dee started to rally in the third period, starting with Matt Gilbert's first professional goal at 8:17, a deflection on Timur Rasulov's shot from the point to make it 2-1. 

The IceCats fell behind by two again after Jacob Schnapp's seventh of the season, making it 3-1 with 6:07 left in regulation.

With IceCats goaltender Parker Rutherford out for the extra attacker late in the game, Patriks Marcinkevics scored his team-leading 28th goal of the season from Houston Wilson and Nick Magill-Diaz, making it a 3-2 game with 28 seconds left in regulation. 

Pee Dee once again got Rutherford to the bench, but could not find the equalizer and the Thunderbirds escaped with the win.

Notes:

• Magill-Diaz now has a three-game point streak, his longest of the season (2-1-3)
• Gilbert's goal was his first professional goal
• Salak's shorthanded goal was the first shorthanded goal of the season for the Thunderbirds
• Chad Purdy made 36 saves for his first pro win

Pee Dee now goes back on the road with a pair of games in Columbus next weekend. The next home games for the IceCats is March 6 and 7 against against the Athens Rock Lobsters. Tickets for all remaining IceCats home games are on sale now at the Florence Center Box Office and online at TicketMaster.com.