Defense is key in Augusta victory

Augusta Lynx goaltender Jason Wolfe said he wouldn't call his effort Sunday one of his best.

He would, however, call it one of the team's best.

Against the ECHL's top offensive team, Wolfe and the Lynx defense all but shut down the Gwinnett Gladiators in a 5-2 victory at the Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center.

The win gave the Lynx (15-18-3) a four-point weekend - they defeated Charlotte on Friday night - and ended Gwinnett's seven-game winning streak. It also wrapped up an inconsistent first half of the season for the Lynx on a positive note.

"All the way around, I felt like this was one of our best games," said Wolfe, who had 35 saves in his first win since Dec. 20. "Any time you get points against the top teams, it really helps.

"If we can win those games, it's huge for us," he said. "And we needed to win that game."

Lynx coach Bob Ferguson said going into the second half of the season, which starts this weekend with a pair of home games, the team still needs work on its power play and defensive zone coverage.

"If we can improve on those two things, I think we can put a pretty good run together and compete to finish in the top half of our division," said Ferguson, who has never missed a postseason behind the bench.

The team entered Sunday ranked 24th on the power play at 12 percent, but Ferguson said Augusta's defensive effort in the weekend wins is uplifting.

"Going into the second half of the season, we need to get the same kind of play as we did Friday and today," he said. "What I was very happy about (today) was that we came back and competed, and that the defense was much more physical."

Feeding off that toughness - and a flurry of highlight-reel saves by Wolfe - the Lynx offense rolled. Augusta trailed 1-0 very early after officials whistled two penalties in the first 16 seconds, setting up a 5-on-3 score for Gwinnett (20-7-4).

But after a spirited Dan Sullivan tussle awoke the crowd late in the period, Doug Wright scored the first of his two goals on a rebound to tie the game.

With the Lynx up against another 5-on-3 situation in the second, Joel Stepp turned the game by stealing a pass and beating Sean Fields on a short-handed breakaway for a 2-1 Lynx lead.

Chris Leinweber's nifty backhand goal at the 6:11 mark of the second made it 3-1.

Gwinnett netted a power-play goal to close the second period.

Wright extended Augusta's lead to 4-2 with a quick wrist shot from near the blue line that rattled in high blocker side midway through the third.

Joel Perrault, in closing his weekend stretch with Augusta before heading back to the AHL, scored late in the game, giving him his sixth point of the weekend and ending the scoring.

Three of Gwinnett's seven losses this season have come at the hands of the Lynx.

NOTES: The Pensacola Ice Pilots, in last place in the South Division, announced Friday they have relieved Rick Adduono from his head coaching duties with the team. Assistant coach George Dupont has been appointed interim head coach.

Reach Steve Sanders at (706) 823-33216 or steven.l.sanders@augustachronicle.com.