Kyle Arbuckle and Bill Greer scored three goals each as the Columbus Landsharks defeated the New York Saints, 15-10, Friday evening at Nationwide Arena, in the season opener for both teams.

Columbus opened the scoring barely more than two minutes into the contest, when Kasey Beirnes scored unassisted. New York's Rusty Kruger matched that with a power play score three minutes later, but Columbus dominated the rest of the quarter, building a 3-1 lead on goals from new acquisition Pat Maddalena and rookie Greg Judge.

New York rallied to tie the game early in the second quarter when Chad Culp and Dan Paccione scored eight seconds apart. However, Columbus soon ran off three straight goals, from Arbuckle, Daniel Dawson, and Beirnes, establishing a 6-3 lead and control of the match. The teams then swapped goals and headed to intermission at 7-3.

After the break, Columbus picked up right where it left off, as Arbuckle struck just 81 seconds into the half. However, this quarter would belong to the Saints. Culp scored 36 seconds after Arbuckle, and Gavin Prout struck a half-minute after that. Following a six-minute scoring drought, Chris Driscoll and Paccione scored to tie the game.

Late goals from Arbuckle and Jon Harasym put Columbus back in the lead, 10-8, after forty-five minutes.

The final period began with Kruger finishing his hat trick, but that was as close as the Saints could come. Maddalena and Greer scored within seven seconds of each other, and Greer closed out his three-goal night five minutes later. Dawson and Jamie Taylor tacked on Shark goals late in the quarter, but by then, the game was out of reach of the fading Saints.

First-round draft pick Nick Carlson finished the scoring, taking a pass from Paccione to bag his first professional goal.

Both teams will be busy next week. Columbus hosts Ottawa on Friday, then travels to New Jersey to play the Storm on Sunday. New York hosts two games, Thursday against Albany and Saturday against Ottawa.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
New York Saints (0-1)                 1  3  4  2  --  10
Columbus Landsharks (1-0)             3  4  3  5  --  15

NEW YORK SAINTS               COLUMBUS LANDSHARKS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Kruger         3 - 2     5    Arbuckle       3 - 1     4
Driscoll       1 - 3     4    Greer          3 - 0     3
Paccione       2 - 1     3    Maddalena      2 - 1     3
Culp           2 - 0     2    Dawson         2 - 1     3
Carlson        1 - 0     1    Beirnes        2 - 0     2
Prout          1 - 0     1    D Suddons      0 - 2     2
                              Harasym        1 - 0     1
                              Judge          1 - 0     1
                              Taylor         1 - 0     1
                              Francey        0 - 1     1
                              Lough          0 - 1     1
                              S Martin       0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           40    Shots on goal           57
Saves made by           42    Saves made by           30
   Nash              42          Miron             30
Penalties                5    Penalties                8
Penalty Minutes         10    Penalty Minutes         16
Power Play Chances       8    Power Play Chances       5
Power Play Goals         2    Power Play Goals         0
   Driscoll           1          (None)
   Kruger             1
Shorthanded Goals        0    Shorthanded Goals        1
   (None)                        Harasym            1
Loose Balls             79    Loose Balls             65
   Nash              15          Maddalena          8
   McFarland         10          Harasym            8
   Kruger             8          Arbuckle           7
                                 Miron              7
Faceoffs Won            22    Faceoffs Won             7
   Ghedina      (19- 7)          Judge        ( 5-13)
   Paccione     ( 3- 0)          Lough        ( 2- 9)

 *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH COLUMBUS 'SHARKS ***