ALLEN, TX – On Saturday night, the Orlando Solar Bears headed west for a first ever visit to the Lone Star state to face the host Allen Americans in the first of a two-game weekend set. When the ice chips settled on the Americans’ home opener, the visitors found themselves on the short end of a Texas-style whooping.
Led by Zach Pochiro’s two goals and three point nights from Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Jonathan Lessard, Allen improved its early season record to 3-0-0-0 with a 6-2 thrashing of the Solar Bears (1-1-0-0) in front of an announced crowd of 4,871 at the Allen Event Center. Rookies Kristian Pospisil and Alexandr Mikulovich scored once each and J.J.Piccinich picked up two assists for the visitors in the loss.
Ten different Americans hit the scoresheet with at least a point but it was an injury to starting goalie Riley Gill that everyone was talking about after the contest. Late in the third period, Orlando’s Jean Dupuy and Allen’s Dalton Thrower got tangled up in front of the Allen net and their momentum took the pair into Gill. Gill was eventually put on a backboard and left the ice on a stretcher, earning some of the loudest applause of the night from the crowd by giving a thumbs up signal as he left.
Allen controlled much of the play and scoring chances during the scoreless but penalty-filled opening stanza. Between the two teams, there were six power play opportunities. The Americans outshot the Solar Bears 12-3 with Orlando’s best opportuinty not counting as a shot by defenseman Jeff King on an odd-man rush hit the post.
The momentum that the Americans built in the first paid dividends early in the middle frame. Just 1:11 in, Pochiro circled back to the top of the left circle and pinballed a shot past Solar Bears netminder Kasimir Kaskisuo – who had joined the Orlando team in Texas on Friday from Toronto – through the legs for his fourth goal of the season. Exactly three minutes later, Tanner Eberle found some space and fired the puck into the back of the net for his first of the season to give the home team a two goal lead.
The Solar Bears were handed a great opportunity a couple of minutes later when overlapping penalties to Alex Schoenborn and David Makowski gave the visitors a two-man advantage for a minute and a half. Although the power play failed to score, Orlando did cut the lead in half moments after the penalties ended when Pospisil drilled a low, hard shot past Gill low to the stick side at the 8:15 mark. The tally was the rookie’s third goal in two games.
Spurred on by the score, the Solar Bears began to push back at the Americans. By the end of the period, the visitors had outshot their hosts 16-11 but still trailed by one heading to the third.
Special teams played a key role for Allen in the final frame. Facing a penalty killing opportunity less than three minutes in, the Americans turned their disadvantage into an advantage. Pierro-Zabotel, who has bedeviled the Solar Bears over the years, set up Pochiro for a shot that beat Kaskisuo low to the stick side for his second of the night and fifth of the year.
The short-handed tally was equaled by the power play just four minutes later. Eric Roy put the puck on net and as the rebound rolled toward the right post. Lessard was there to jam it home for his third of the season and a commanding 4-1 lead for the Americans.
Orlando answered back when rookie Mikulovich, playing in his first game with the Solar Bears after signing a contract during the week, took a feed from Piccinich and sent a laser past Gill for his inaugural goal of the year.
Gill, who made 23 saves before leaving the contest, kept the visitors from crawling closer when he went post-to-post and robbed Orlando’s Nolan Valleau of a score. It was one of his final saves before the injury that silenced the crowd until they knew that he was alert and had movement in all of his limbs.
Josh Thrower, Dalton’s brother, challenged Dupuy on the ensuing faceoff and the fight took the edge off both sides. Allen continued to pour the offense on as Pierro-Zabotel notched his second goal of the season by redirecting a Jaynen Rissling shot past Kaskisuo (26 saves). Makowski capped off the victory with a short-handed, empty net goal with just under two minutes left.
Notes: Allen outshot Orlando by a final count of 32-20 in the contest… The Solar Bears finished the game 0-for-9 on the power play, leaving them 0-for-15 in two games. The Americans went 1-for-7 to improve to 1-for-13 in three contests… To make room for Kaskisuo on the roster and activate him, Orlando moved rookie forward MacKenzie Braid from the reserve list to injured reserve retroactive to October 11th. Goalie Cal Heeter, who was injured in last Saturday’s opener at Jacksonville, was then put on the reserve list which allowed Kaskisuo to play… Orlando and Allen will finish their season series with a return matchup Sunday at 5:05 pm eastern time at the Allen Event Center.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.