ECHL: Deja vu: Blades lose in OT

And for the second straight night, Gwinnett came away with the extra point in the standings.

Troy Milam's power play goal 2:58 into overtime Saturday night gave the Gladiators (5-1-1) a 3-2 overtime win and sent a stunned paid crowd of 5,822 home scratching their heads. It was the third power play goal of the night for Gwinnett.

Everblades defenseman Matt Pagnutti almost ended the game 36 seconds earlier with what would have been a shorthanded goal, but Gwinnett goalie Michael Garnett made an incredible save.

Reggie Berg had streaked in and put a slap shot on net that was kicked away by Garnett back to Berg, who fed it to Pagnutti in the right circle. Pagnutti wristed it and Garnett slid across the crease, sprawled and gloved it.

"I put it right where I wanted to, he just got across the crease and made the save," Pagnutti said. "I really didn't know where it went at first, then he (Garnett) showed me."

Florida (4-1-2) salvaged two out of a possible four points in the homestand and now heads out on the west for a five-game road trip that begins in Las Vegas on Tuesday night against the Wranglers (10 p.m.) Their flight leaves early Monday morning.

Gwinnett's power play was set up by an untimely elbowing penalty on Everblades defenseman Ryan Van Buskirk that was assessed as a five-minute major.

Van Buskirk crashed into Gladiators right wing Anthony Aqui no and laid him out on the ice.

Aquino stayed on the ice for a few minutes and had to be helped off into an ambulance, setting up the power play.

"Anytime you give three power play goals up you're not going to win a hockey game," Everblades head coach Gerry Fleming said.

"If you don't score any and you give three up chances are you're going to dig yourself a hole right away. It's an area we've got to improve on, it's early in the season and we've got a lot of work to do."

Rookie Carl Mallette scored his first goal as a professional 6:26 into the first period, just 26 seconds after Gwinnett veteran Cam Brown beat Everblades goalie Rob Zepp on the power play.

Rick Emmett's power play 13:01 into the first gave the Gladiators a 2-1 lead and Berg tied it up 12:18 into the second period. He cleaned up a loose rebound of a Chad Larose shot that came off a rebound of Van Buskirk's laser from the blue line.

Neither team could score in the third period and Florida looked to have the fresher legs in the five-minute, 4-on-4 overtime before Van Buskirk's penalty.

'I think this might be a gut check for us now because we're going to face more teams we're not familiar with," Pagnutti said.

"Maybe this is something we needed."

NOTES: Everblades right wing Keith Anderson and defenseman Peter Reynolds were kept out of the game so they could rest their injuries suffered in Friday night's game. Anderson pulled his hamstring in the second period when her collided with Zepp and Reynolds bruised his ribs when "I wrapped myself around the post," he said. Both players said the coaches decided it was more important for them to heal before the big road trip out west. ... Florida's defenseman entered the game with an impressive plus-16 plus-minus rating. ... Forward Roberto Bissonnette suited up for the first time all season after missing the first six games with an injury and with visa paperwork. ql

GLADIATORS:3

EVERBLADES: 2, OT

Gwinnett: 2 - 0 - 0 - 1 -- 3

Florida: 1 - 1 - 0 - 0 -- 2

First Period - Scoring: 1. Gwinnett Brown 3 (Dietrich, Doell) 6:00 (pp); 2. Florida Mallette 1 (O'Leary) 6:26; 3. Gwinnett Emmett 1 (Dietrich, Bourne) 13:01 (pp) Penalties: Mallette, Fla (holding the stick) 4:09; O'Leary (boarding) 12:45; Emmett, Gtw (slashing) 18:28.

Second Period - Scoring: 4. Florida Berg 4 (Van Buskirk, Larose) 12:18 Penalties: Slonina, Gtw (tripping) 1:35; Van Buskirk, Fla (boarding) 7:36; Doell, Gtw (roughing) 12:53; Pagnutti, Fla (roughing) 12:53; Dietrich, Gtw (hooking) 13:42; O'Connor, Gtw (interference) 17:36; O'Leary, Fla (interference) 18:13.

Third Period - Scoring: None Penalties: Slonina, Gtw (boarding) 2:58; Van Buskirk, Fla (charging) 5:18; O'Connor, Gtw (slashing) 5:18.

Overtime - Scoring: 5. Gwinnett Milam 2 (Vigilante) 2:58 (pp) Penalties: Van Buskirk, Fla (five-minute major for elbowing) 1:50

Shots on goal - Gwinnett 11-9-7-2 - 29; Florida 9-15-3-3 - 30.

Power-play opportunities - Gwinnett 3 of 5; Florida 0 of 5.

Goaltenders - Gwinnett, Garnett 3-0-0 (30 shots, 28 saves); Florida, Zepp 1-0-2 (29 shots, 26 saves).

A -- 5,822