Blades hope to continue dominance of Ice Pilots

ESTERO — Coming off a five- game stretch during they went 1-3-1, the Florida Everblades aren’t about take any opponent likely.

So even though Florida (27-14-3) is facing a Pensacola Ice Pilots team that has gone 2-6-2 in its last 10 games and sits in last place in the South Division of the ECHL’s American Conference, head coach Gerry Fleming isn’t taking any chances.

“I’m sure they’ve changed their system a little bit,” said Fleming, who already has seen Pensacola seven times (all wins) and has five more meetings to go including tonight. “We’re not looking past this team by any means, and our focus is solely on these two games.”

The Ice Pilots (16-24-5) are facing a different group of Everblades from the one they lost to on Jan. 20, but they have a different look as well. Interim head coach George DuPont, who re placed Rick Adduono last month, has made a couple of trades and signings to try and form a cohesive unit.

Everblades veteran defenseman Corey Neilson will be playing his first game at the Pensacola Civic Center as a member of the visiting team tonight. The 29-year-old former Ice Pilots captain was traded to Florida on Jan.

8 in exchange for rookie forward Jonathan Lehun and rookie defenseman Nick Vukovic, neither of who are on the team — Vukovic never reported and had his rights traded to the Reading Royals and Lehun played two games then was released Tuesday and claimed off waivers by the Stockton Thunder.

“The hard work and the energy we showed the least few games have helped and we need to continue that, especially on the power play,” Neilson said. “As for Pensacola, I think they’re pretty solid up front, they have a lot of speed up front and a lot of good young forwards. As long as we don’t make any mistakes we should be fine, and anytime we’re playing offense I think their defense is going to have a tough time trying to contain us.”

“They’re definitely different and they’ve pretty much always played us well,” said Everblades goaltender Phil Osaer. “We’ve had some success on them and capitalized on our chances, but I’m sure they’ve been looking to this weekend for a while because they’re trying to make a playoff push now. They’re going to come guns blazing, so this is a big weekend for us.”

Fleming will decide before the game whether or not he’s going to insert forward Reggie Berg back into the lineup for the first time since the season-opener, but with the current injury situation he might not have a choice.

Forwards Kevin Bergin (hand), Greg Black (ribs) and veteran Bogdan Rudenko (concussion) all stayed behind, along with veteran defenseman Ryan Brindley (knee) and defenseman Grant McNeill (ankle). Brindley and McNeill are on the 30-day injured reserve and Black and Rudenko are on the 7-day, with Berg still listed on the 30-day.

Blades (27-14-3) at Ice Pilots (16-24-5)

-- What: Florida Everblades vs. Pensacola ice Pilots in first of back-to-back games

-- When: Tonight, 8:05

-- Where: Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola

-- Radio: SportsRadio 770 ESPN (WWCN- AM 770) and simulcast on the Internet at www.floridaeverblades.com