Savannah Ghost Pirates end losing streak with 7-0 shutout victory over Jacksonville Icemen in ECHL game

Seven-goal outburst flips the script in Jacksonville

The Savannah Ghost Pirates ended a losing streak with a decisive 7-0 win over the Jacksonville Icemen on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The result marked Jacksonville’s most lopsided loss of the season series against Savannah and delivered a rare shutout in a matchup that has often produced multi-goal swings.

Savannah built the game around a late first-period breakthrough and a second-period surge that effectively settled the outcome before the final 20 minutes. Jacksonville used two goaltenders as the score escalated, but the Icemen could not solve Savannah netminder Vinnie Purpura, who stopped all 27 shots he faced for the shutout.

How the scoring unfolded

After a scoreless opening stretch, Savannah took a 1-0 lead with 4:55 remaining in the first period on Connor Gregga’s one-timer from the low slot. The Ghost Pirates then converted the game into a one-sided affair early in the second period, scoring four times and forcing a goaltending change for Jacksonville.

• 1st period: Gregga opened the scoring late, giving Savannah a 1-0 lead.
• 2nd period: Ryan Sullivan, Nick Granowicz and Nicholas Zabaneh (twice) pushed the score to 5-0, with one goal coming on the power play.
• 3rd period: Granowicz scored on a breakaway 59 seconds in, then added a late goal to complete a hat trick and close the scoring at 7-0.

Key individual performances

Granowicz recorded three goals, finishing the afternoon with a hat trick that included a breakaway goal early in the third period. Zabaneh scored twice, including a second-period power-play goal that made the margin 5-0 heading into intermission. Purpura’s shutout anchored the performance, while Savannah also received a two-assist game from Tristan Amonte, who earned the first professional point of his career on the opening goal and added another assist shortly afterward.

Final: Savannah 7, Jacksonville 0 — a shutout with multi-goal games from Granowicz and Zabaneh.

Context: a rivalry with recent momentum swings

The shutout came just nine days after Jacksonville defeated Savannah 4-2 at the same arena on Jan. 23, 2026. In that earlier meeting, Jacksonville scored twice in the final minutes and added an empty-net goal, turning a tight game into a two-goal result. Sunday’s contest reversed the dynamic: Savannah controlled the middle of the game, turned a 1-0 lead into a five-goal cushion in the second period, and protected it with clean goaltending and special-teams production.

For Jacksonville, the outcome underscored the thin margin that can separate even-strength play from a runaway score when penalties, rebounds and early-period goals accumulate. For Savannah, the win provided a clear statistical reset: a seven-goal performance, a shutout, and a definitive end to the skid.