ESTERO, FLA – When the Orlando Solar Bears arrived in Estero earlier this week, their goal was to win at least one of their first two road games against the Florida Everblades before heading home for the first of three games at the Amway Center next week. The visitors could easily have been satisfied with that victory but for this Solar Bears squad, settling is just not their style.
Instead, they went for that second win and got it.
Justin Buzzeo’s goal with 8:30 left in regulation broke a tie and gave the Solar Bears a 3-2 victory over the Everblades in front of an announced crowd of 3,044 at Germain Arena Friday night. Orlando goalie Ryan Massa once again committed grand theft against the home team, stopping 36 of 38 shots to give the Solar Bears an improbable 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven divisional semifinal series over arguably the best team in the entire Eastern conference.
Buzzeo, who came to Orlando in a trade-deadline deal for Alex Gacek, scored his game-winner on a breakaway from the Florida defensive blue line after Shane Conacher disrupted an Everblades zone clear and created a turnover. Conacher poked the puck to Buzzeo who made a series of stick-handling moves before tucking the disc behind Florida goalie Alex Nedeljkovic for what may have been the biggest goal of his career to date.
Massa then had to stand on his head and literally use every bit of his talent and equipment to hold off the Everblades who unloaded a barrage of shots – including one that hit the netminder in the mask – trying to find the equalizer. Massa’s teammates helped out with several key blocked shots along the way to secure the win.
Just as they had in game one, the visitors jumped out in front early in the opening period. Just 3:45 after the opening face-off, Eric Faille drove into the Florida end and circled the net before pivoting back toward the corner. The curl move gave him enough time to find Joe Perry who put a shot on Nedeljkovic who made the save. The netminder failed to control the rebound and it skidded out to where Ryan Moore, who was playing in just his second professional game, rammed it into the net for his first professional goal and point.
Moore’s goal proved to be a wake-up call for the Everblades who began a furious surge that kept Massa on his toes. The Solar Bears netminder robbed Florida sniper John McCarron on a point blank opportunity and later took a shot to the mask that knocked his head gear loose. That would prove to be a crucial moment as seconds later the Everblades put the puck in the net but the play was negated by Massa’s mask completely coming off his head.
Trailing by one as the second period started, Florida continued to push for the tying score but Massa was a brick wall between the pipes. On two separate occasions, he stoned 41-goal scorer Brendan O’Donnell, the second coming on a side-to-side sliding glove save during an Everblades man advantage.
The Everblades finally found a way to beat Orlando’s last line of defense, tying the game with 4:43 left in the middle stanza. Matt Berry, who scored twice in Wednesday’s loss, was again the man with the answer when he carried the puck into the Solar Bears defensive zone and drove into the slot area where he beat two defenders to laser a shot home for his third goal of the series.
Not wanting the Everblades to take advantage of the momentum swing created by Berry, Orlando struck back just 33 seconds later to regain the lead. The Solar Bears skated the puck into the Everblades end and watched as the middle of the ice opened up. Mason Marchment seized the opportunity and put a pass on the stick blade of Eric Baier, who had jumped up into the play to create an odd-man situation. Baier collected the puck and tucked a shot just inside the post to Nedeljkovic’s right for his first goal of the series and third career post-season tally.
A late period penalty to Orlando’s Chris Crane carried over into the third period, allowing the Everblades to play with a man advantage on a fresh sheet of ice and it paid off. Just 1:08 into the frame, Michael Kirkpatrick skated into the Orlando end and began to cut across the face of a defender. As he did, Massa started to move to the middle of the net which allowed Kirkpatrick the opportunity to fire back to Massa’s right through a screen for his first goal of the series.
With the score knotted at two, the Solar Bears went on a power play of their own less than two minutes after Kirkpatrick’s score. They thought they had a sure goal when with Nedeljkovic down, Buzzeo ripped a shot at the wide open net. Unfortunately for him, the puck clanked off the inside of the post to Nedeljkovic’s right and came straight across the cage, exiting the crease to the goalie’s left without crossing the goal line.
With each passing second, the tension rose as precious seconds ticked off the clock before Buzzeo found redemption with his goal at the 11:30 mark. The final 8:30 seemed to drag on forever for the Solar Bears faithful who both traveled for the game and were viewing the game back home.
Florida pulled Nedeljkovic (19 saves) with 1:37 to go and kept the puck in the Orlando end for much of that time but Massa was on a mission and with the help of his teammates held off their in-state rivals for a second straight night.
Notes: Florida finished the contest outshooting Orlando 38-22…The Solar Bears power play, which connected once on Wednesday, went 0-for-3 while the Everblades finished 1-for-4… Orlando has never lost a playoff game when Baier has scored a goal… Perry, Faille, Marchment and Denver Manderson all picked up assists in the game to extend their point streaks to two games… The win marked the first time since 2014 that Orlando won back-to-back playoff games on the road. That year, the Solar Bears won both games four and five – game five coming on Baier’s overtime winner – in Cincinnati to force a game six back at the Amway Center… The teams will head north to Orlando for game three on Thursday, April 20th at 7 p.m. with game four set for Saturday, April 22nd and a possible game five on Sunday, April 23rd.
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