Beauregard haunts former team

ORLANDO, FLA – 7.8 seconds. Friday night at the Amway Center, the Orlando Solar Bears were that close to a much needed victory over the Ft. Wayne Komets. Most of the 6,860 fans in the building were that close to celebrating a win on the night they helped make the holidays happier by tossing stuffed animals onto the ice between periods. It was all that stood between the Komets and their second straight loss.

Much to the chagrin of the home team, it was more than enough time for Thomas Beauregard to score his second goal of the game to tie the score before he provided the game-winner in the shootout to give the Komets a 5-4 victory. Beauregard’s performance turned out to be ironic since he started this season with the Solar Bears before being traded during training camp. It also spoiled a two goal night by Orlando’s Nick Petersen and the Solar Bears’ largest single-game goal output in three weeks.
“He’s (Beauregard) a great player. He’s proven he’s a goal scorer. We appreciate everything he did for our organization and our team but the direction we were moving in, it just didn’t work out. I wish him all the best,” Orlando head coach Drake Berehowsky said about Beauregard. “It’s tough when a player comes back and scores on you like that but it’s all part of the game.”
Playing with yet another new player in the lineup (former NHLer Ryan Reaves was signed hours before the contest), the Solar Bears were also missing assistant captain Kevin Baker who was dealt to Evansville for forwards Dan Gendur and Dale Mahovsky. The changes made no matter to the Komets, who opened the scoring when Brandon Marino set up Beauregard who whistled a shot between the pads of Orlando goalie Darcy Kuemper six and a half minutes into the contest.
The Solar Bears took three minor penalties during the back half of the stanza, allowing Ft. Wayne to pile up the shots. By the end of the period, the Komets had out-shot Orlando 17-8 but Kuemper, who was assigned by the Minnesota Wild from Houston to the Solar Bears on Thursday, kept the margin at just one goal.
“I felt all right. I felt a little bit rusty, a little bit stiff because I was on a plane last night,” Kuemper, whose last playing time was a start for the Solar Bears on November 23rd, said. “As the game got going, I felt a lot better. The team was playing really good so it made it a lot easier on me.”
Berehowsky must have said something to his squad between periods because the Solar Bears came out much more aggressively at the start of the second. It all seemed for naught when at the 5:55 mark, Marino was left alone behind the Orlando net. Unchallenged, he walked in front and put a wrap-around shot on Kuemper at the near post. Although Kuemper made the initial stop, Marino was able to bang home the rebound to double the Komets lead.
Marino’s tally was the wake-up call the home team needed. Less than four minutes later, Ryan Cruthers sent a shot at Ft. Wayne netminder Ken Reiter that was blocked. Petersen, who had scored just three goals in his last twelve games, pounced on the carom and fired it high under the crossbar and in. Then with 5:43 to go before the intermission, Petersen was at it again, cleaning up the rebound of his own tip of a Bryce Lampman shot to tie the score.
“I thought we saw a lot of good stuff coming out (of the team). We did a lot of the right things, especially in the second period,” Petersen said. “We got the puck to the net. We were working hard, winning our battles. That’s what we have to bring every night to get out of this rut.”
Things looked like they were going the way of the home team early in the third when hustle and effort paid off in a goal. Ryan Ginand never stopped on a thwarted foray into the Komets end and his effort paid off when linemate Rob Mignardi saucered a pretty pass across the slot that Ginand one-timed into the back of the net. Orlando’s lead grew to 4-2 at the midpoint of the period when captain Ryan Cruthers took a feed, slid his way in front Reiter and tucked it home past the Ft. Wayne goalie.
The Komets (10-8-0-1) didn’t seem to think much of the Solar Bears scoring four unanswered goals and immediately set out to rectify the situation. Just 57 seconds after Cruthers’ score, Ryan Hegarty cut the lead to 4-3 when his blast from the point found its way through some traffic and past Kuemper (38 saves on 41 shots faced). The Solar Bears held Ft. Wayne at bay until the dying seconds when Beauregard grabbed the rebound of a shot by Josh Brittain and fired it over Kuemper to send the contest into overtime.
Kuemper saved Orlando early in the extra period when he stoned Luca Caputi on a breakaway. Moments later, Beauregard thought he had the game won when he batted the rebound of his own shot out of mid-air and behind Kuemper. Referee Joe Sullivan immediately waived off the score, saying that Beauregard’s stick contacted the puck above the height of the crossbar, and play went on.
With 1:32 remaining, Orlando’s power play, which had been 0-for-4 up to that point was given one more chance as Ft. Wayne’s Brent Henley was sent off for holding. Holding a four-on-three advantage (normal overtime play is four-on-four), the Solar Bears looked for the perfect play but it never materialized and time ran out.
In the shootout, both Kuemper and Reiter (40 saves on 44 shots) were perfect through two rounds. After Orlando’s Kyle Medvec was stopped on the Solar Bears’ third chance, Beauregard calmly skated in on Kuemper and sailed a shot high to the top corner. Reiter then stopped Ginand and Olivier Fortier to give the Komets their sixth road win of the season.
The Solar Bears will have a chance to get even Saturday night when the teams will again take to the ice at the Amway Center. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com