PORTLAND, ME – Goalie Amir Miftakhov was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 6th round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Currently he is getting his playing time with the Orlando Solar Bears because there is a log jam in front of him in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch. Saturday night at the Cross Insurance Arena, Miftakhov played in just his second ECHL regular season start and played very well.
There was just one problem: the goalie at the other end of the ice has a Hall of Famer and Stanley Cup champion for a teacher and a father.
In a contest that was much more of a defensive battle that Friday night’s game was, goalie Jeremy Brodeur made 35 saves to best Miftakhov’s 34-save night as the Maine Mariners (14-14-3-1) downed Orlando (19-14-2-0) by a final of 3-1 in front of an announced crowd of 2,768. Mathew Santos scored a pair of goals for the Mariners, who stopped the Solar Bears road win streak at five games.
Tyler Bird scored the lone goal for the Solar Bears. It was his second goal and sixth point in two nights.
If the name Brodeur sounds familiar, yes he is the son of HoFer Martin Brodeur, who was one of the best netminders to put on the pads in the history of the NHL. That fact aside, the performance the two goalies put on on Saturday was worthy of a higher level of play.
The lone goal of the opening frame came at the 10:53 mark of the first during the Mariners’ second (and final) power play of the night. Nate Kallen carried the puck into the Orlando defensive zone with Nick Master to his left coming down the slot and Cameron Askew to his right along the boards. Kallen shuffled the puck to Askew while drawing a defender with him, clearing out a cross-ice passing lane. Askew threw it across and Master skated into position to quickly redirect the puck past Miftakhov for his eighth goal of the season and a 1-0 lead that Maine carried into the first intermission.
Just shy of three minutes into the second period, the Mariners increased their lead with a second pretty play. It started in their defensive zone where Santos dug the puck off the half boards and sent Patrick Shea off on an even-man rush. Shea veered toward the middle of the ice inside the Orlando blueline. As he did, he saw Santos hustling to get into the play as an odd-man trailer. Shea made the feed to Santos who proceeded to blast a hard wirst shot that screamed its way past Miftakhov’s catching glove into the top corner for Santos’ 10th tally of the year.
Down by two, the Solar Bears desperately wanted to get back into the contest and they did so. With a few ticks over six minutes remaining in the middle frame, Michael Brodzinski sent an indirect stretch pass off the boards into center where Bird collected it behind the Mariners defensemen. Hunter Fejes turned on the jets and joined Bird, setting up a two-on-none rush at Brodeur. Fejes turned out to be window dressing as Bird held onto the puck, eventually finding the space between the goalie’s legs for his ninth tally of the season, trimming the deficit to 2-1.
The last 6:07 of the second and the first 18 minutes of the third period were a master’s course in how to play goal and frustrate the opposition at both ends of the ice. Miftakhov and Brodeur were equally brilliant between the pipes, matching save for save. Both netminders used their quick reflexes and keen desire to win to smother anything and everything sent their way. Miftakhov’s best sequence in the final frame came with 7:31 left in regulation when he turned away not on, not two, not three but four chances off the sticks of Maine’s Marc-Olivier Duquette, Master and two by Shea in the space of six seconds.
Santos put the game on ice with 1:21 to go when Shea picked up a loose puck in his defensive zone and slid it to Santos. From the top of the faceoff circle to Brodeur’s right, Santos sent the puck the lenght of the ice into the vacated Solar Bears net for his second of the night and 11th of the year to seal the victory.
Orlando continued to try to find a second tally but Brodeur stood his ground. His final save of the night was a flash of his right leg pad turning away Bird from point blank range through traffic with 21 second remaining. It put a perfect exclaimation point on the contest.
The teams will complete their three-in-three weekend Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Cross Insurance Arena.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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