ORLANDO, FLA – On 70’s Night at the Amway Center in Orlando, the host Orlando Solar Bears hoped to boogie on past the Florida Everblades for a needed win. What started out looking like a night that would be easy as “ABC” turned into a “War” but in the end, the home fans as well as the Solar Bears team and staff went home feeling “On Top of the World”.
Led by two goals from Peter Abbandonato, a score from Ryan Lohin in his return from the Tampa Bay Lightning’s training camp and 27 clutch saves from Clint Windsor, Orlando (5-3-0-0) broke a two-game losing streak by edging Florida (8-3-0-0) 4-3 in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 2,250 on Friday night. Two newcomers, Mark Auk (2 assists) and Alan Lyszczarczyk (1 assist), also chipped in during their Solar Bears debuts to help leave the Everblades “Blinded by the Light” early on before the visitors made a comeback that ended up being “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late”.
Trying to wipe the taste of a very bad weekend that ended in two losses to Florida, Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky retooled his lineup with Lohin and Matt Spencer back from Tampa as well as adding Auk (picked up on waivers from Rapid City during the week) and Lyszczarczyk (signed late last week) to the card. Those and a couple of other changes seemed to spark the home team as Orlando hit the Everblades with a three-goal opening stanza.
The onslaught began at the 6:01 mark of the first period when Auk got the puck to Alex Kuqali along the far boards inside the blueline. Kuqali found some room and fired at the net where it was redirected once before Lohin tipped it a second time, beating Florida goalie Devin Cooley for his fifth goal of the season.
Less than five minutes later, after failing on a five-on-three power play and then killing an Everblades man advantage, the Solar Bears struck a second time. Some hard nosed work in the corner by Tyler Bird freed up the puck and sent it behind the net. Lyszczarczyk swooped in and as he came out the other side, he slid a pretty backhand pass to the top of the crease where Aaron Luchuk was wide open. Luchuk wasted little time, snapping the disc to the far side top corner for his second of the year at 11:56.
Orlando’s lead expanded late in the period thanks to some deft hand-eye coordination. Jerry D’Amigo took a feed in the high slot from Auk and wheeled to face the net. With traffic in front of Cooley, D’Amigo fired it to the right spot for Abbandonato to get his stick on it, sending it past Cooley for Abbandonato’s second of the season and a seemingly solid 3-0 Orlando lead heading into the intermission.
Florida Head Coach Brad Ralph must have had a heck of a between periods speech because his Everblades exploded for two goals in the opening five minutes of the second frame. At the 3:08 mark, Joe Pendenza carved out some room and put a shot on the Solar Bears goalie Windsor up high. Windsor made the stop but the puck dropped to the ice. Alex Kyle got to it first and shoveled it to teammate Lukas Craggs who had beaten an Orlando defenseman to the low slot. While falling down, Craggs was able to sweep the puck into the cage for his third score of the year.
Just under a minute later, the Everblades found paydirt again. Cameron Hebig was in the right spot to intercept a Solar Bears clearing attempt up near the top of the faceoff circle to Windsor’s right. Hebig wheeled around and surprised the goalie with a on-target shot that beat Windsor’s glove hand. The goal was Hebig’s fourth of the season and it trimmed the Orlando lead to 3-2.
As the fans started to squirm in the stands, the Solar Bears needed a pick-me-up and got it thanks to an odd-man rush and some sweet tape-to-tape passing. Abbandonato started the sequence by getting the puck in the neutral zone and sending it to J.J. Piccinich. Piccinich proceeded to slide it to his left for D’Amigo who in turn hit a wide open Abbandonato who was streaking for the net. Abbandonato was stopped on his initial shot by Cooley (21 saves) but he jammed the rebound between the netminder’s legs for his second of the night and third of the year.
Orlando had a chance to put a dagger into the hearts of the Everblades early in the final frame. Up 4-2 and on a carry-over power play, a Solar Bears tally could have reset the three-goal lead from the first. Instead, it was the visitors who cashed in when Marcus Powell sent Michael Huntebrinker in alone on a short-handed breakaway. Huntebrinker drove down the middle of the slot and whistled a shot low past Windsor’s stick side for his sixth goal of the campaign to cut the margin to 4-3.
With the lead in jeopardy, Windsor locked in on the task. He made a brilliant save on Florida’s John McCarron seconds after the speedy Everblades forward finished serving a penalty. The Solar Bears netminder also had Lady Luck in his corner, catching a break when Kyle Neuber clanged a shot that would have tied the game off the post.
The Everblades pushed hard down the stretch, outshooting the Solar Bears 7-1 over the final 8:11 of regulation but thanks to Windsor, Orlando was able to hang on dance away with the win, bringing the season series between the bitter rivals to a 3-2 lead for Florida.
The Solar Bears will head up to Jacksonville to take on the Icemen Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena while the Everblades are off until Wednesday, January 13th when they host Jacksonville at Hertz Arena in Estero.
Notes: Final shots were 30-25 in favor of Florida… Both teams went scoreless on the power play as the Everblades wnet 0-for-3 while Orlando finished 0-for-5… Friday night’s contest was the first time during the 2020-21 season that Florida did not score the opening goal… Solar Bears defenseman Auk had two assists in the contest, bringing his season total to seven, putting him in a tie for second place for most helpers by a blueliner in the ECHL… Huntebrinker’s short-handed goal was the fourth given up by Orlando this season… Orlando rookie defenseman Luke McInnis made his professional debut after coming off the injured reserve list earlier in the week.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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