GREENVILLE, SC – With the knowledge that this year’s ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs will be a limited party with points percentage being the deciding, every game has been given greater importance. For the Orlando Solar Bears and Greenville Swamp Rabbits, that means that – at this point – every meeting between the fourth and fifth place teams in the Eastern conference has already become a swing game.
Thursday night at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Matt Bradley and his Swamp Rabbit teammates swung the pendulum in their direction.
Keyed by Bradley’s first ECHL hat trick amid the team’s highest offensive output of the season, host Greenville (9-4-5-2) demolished Orlando (9-8-1-0) by a final of 8-2 in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 1,185. The win boosted the Swamp Rabbits into third place in the conference with a point percentage of .625, just ahead of now fourth place South Carolina at .611 while the Solar Bears remained in fifth place with a percentage of .528.
Orlando headed into the start of a three-game weekend set with Greenville with yet another different-looking lineup. The Solar Bears were without netminder Garret Sparks, who was loaned to AHL Stockton and veteran forward Jerry D’Amigo who is with the Colorado Eagles in the AHL. That meant that rookie goalie Michael Lackey was put into the starters role while newly acquired freshman backstop Taran Kozun was slotted into the backup role. Additionally forward Luc Brown was picked up off of waivers from Greenville to fill the hole left by D’Amigo’s callup along with rookie Nikita Pavlychev who was just off the Commissioner’s Exempt list and drew into the lineup.
Things did not start off well for the visitors. Just 2:33 into the opening frame, Greg Meireles made a perfect stretch pass to Bradley who had gotten behing the Solar Bears defense. He drove in alone on Lackey and bear the young netminder between the legs for Bradley’s fifth goal of the season. Seven minutes later, Greenville’s Shawn Cameron converted a transition break with teammate Garrett Thompson into his first professional tally to give the Swamp Rabbits a 2-0 lead before the first period was halfway done.
The Solar Bears failed to score on the stanza’s lone power play attempt but seconds after the penalty expired, they got on the board. Mark Auk set up Devante Stephens for a blast from the center of the blueline that found its way past Greenville goalie Ryan Bednard for the Tampa Bay Lightning prospect’s second goal of the season.
Getting back within one heading into the second, Orlando was stunned quickly after the opening draw for the middle frame. A Solar Bears turnover allowed Karch Bachman to bust away on an odd-man rush. Bachman buried a shot high to Lackey’s glove side for his fourth of the year to extend the Swamp Rabbits lead to 3-1.
From there, the stanza became a free-for-all of shots at both ends of the ice, many coming on golden chances. Lackey was able to regain himself, stoning Greenville’s Matt Wedman from in close midway through the period only to be matched by the Swamp Rabbits’ Bednard, who was coming off of being named the league’s goalie of the week for the third time this season.
The home team picked up some insurance with a little under three minutes left before the second intermission. Florida Panthers’ prospect Patrick Bajkov took the puck on a stroll along the perimeter of the Orlando defensive zone. He eventually skated into the right circle and ripped a shot home for his third of the season and a commanding 4-1 lead for Greenville heading into the third.
Still clinging to hope of making a comeback in the final twenty minutes, the Solar Bears began the climb back when Auk put a shot on net from a sharp angle that beat Bednard for his second to trim the margin to 4-2 at the 6:37 mark.
Not wanting to let their South division rival back into the contest, the Swamp Rabbits went on the offensive. It took Greenville just 19 to respond when Bradley went top shelf again for his second of the night at 6:56. Bradley’s tally ended the night for Lackey, who was replaced by Kozun, who was making his fourth career ECHL appearance for his fourth team this year.
Kozun was victimized by a bad bounce three minutes into his Solar Bears debut. A shot by Bradley was blocked in front but the puck went to Max Zimmer who potted a backhander for his seventh of the season. Two minutes later, the Swamp Rabbits picked up a power play goal when a perfectly designed play off of an offensive zone faceoff led to a bomb by Joey Haddad from the point that ended up in the back of the net for Haddad’s fourth to make it 7-2.
Bradley finished off his hat trick when he took a feed from Ben Finkelstein and one-timed the biscuit into the net with 1:41 remaining for the Swamp Rabbits fourth consecutive goal of the frame.
Bednard picked up the victory for Greenville, stopping 27 of 29 Orlando shots. At the other end, the Solar Bears Lackey made 24 save on 29 shots in suffering the loss while Kozun made 3 saves on the 6 shots he faced in relief.
The teams will have Friday off before facing off again in Greenville on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday at 3:05 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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