Lynx's skid hits seven with Florida's sweep

ESTERO, Fla. -- The Florida Everblades entered this weekend's two-game series against Augusta hoping to salvage something out of what had been a dreary home stand.

Done and done.

Kris Vernarsky and Matt Hendricks each scored a pair of goals and added an assist to complete Florida's sweep of the Lynx with a 5-2 win before a crowd 5,383 fans at Germain Arena on Saturday night.

The Everblades (14-11-1) finished their five-game home stand with a 2-2-1 mark thanks to its victories over Augusta (7-15-2), including Friday's 3-2 win.

The losses extended the Lynx's season-long losing streak to seven.

"Coming into this weekend we really set a goal to sweep," said Hendricks, who scored Florida's first and last goal. "We knew that Augusta had a losing streak going and we wanted to add to it. They came out and played us hard.

"They wanted to get a couple of wins this weekend. I think it was a good test for us to see if we could come out and really show our fans that we want to win at home."

Matus Kostur tried to steal at least a point for his team, stopping 31 of the 35 shots he faced, including a couple of sprawling pad saves. But he could not get a pad on Vernarsky's two shots that broke a 1-1 tie and gave Florida a 3-1 edge it would not relinquish.

Vernarsky scored his first while shorthanded to cap a nice display of passing with Steve Saviano at 15:40 of the first period.

Vernarsky set up a 2-on-1 break by stealing the puck at the Augusta blue line and sending a pass to Saviano.

Saviano faked a shot, then returned the puck to Vernarsky, who blasted it home for a lead Florida would take into the locker room at the first intermission.

"A bounce went our way, we went 2-on-1, a little tic-tac-toe, got the goalie moved and he threw it back over to me for the open net," Vernarsky said.

Vernarsky was also in the right place to pick up the game-winner, as Brad Church's initial shot in front bounced to him. All Vernarsky had to do was deposit the puck into an open net at 5:43 of the third period.

Vernarsky also set up Brandon Coalter's insurance goal with less than five minutes left in the game by burying a nice cross-ice pass at 15:53 of the third period.

"I just went hard and had my stick on the ice and it hit it and it went in," Coalter said. "That's it. It's not because I have great hands."

Augusta's Jim Shepherd had cut his team's deficit to 3-2 with a one-timer from inside the slot at 10:49, but Coalter's goal made it 4-2 and Hendricks scored his second goal of the game into an empty net at

18:42 for the final margin.

Augusta took the lead at 7:32 of the first period after Ken Magowan crashed the net and jammed home the rebound of a Shepherd shot.

Florida did not trail long.

Hendricks tied the game at 13:30 with a perfectly placed shot from the left circle that clanked off the low far post and into the net followed by Vernarsky's first goal 2:10 later.