NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – With just four games left in the season, the Orlando Solar Bears had an opportunity Sunday to put some distance between themselves and the South Carolina Stingrays in the race for third in the ECHL’s South division. A win by the visitors would have brought the Stingrays close to a first round playoff date with the Florida Everblades in ten days.
Unfortunately for Orlando, Joe Devin and his teammates had other ideas.
Devin, who is known in the Low Country for clutch post-season tallies, scored with just over two minutes left in overtime to give his Stingrays (37-28-3-1, 78 points) a 3-2 victory over the Solar Bears (35-24-7-3, 80 points) in front of an announced crowd of 2,975 at the North Charleston Coliseum. The victory spoiled the second straight two-goal game by Orlando’s Mason Marchment and the 36-save professional debut of goalie Mitch Gillam.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, both the Solar Bears and Stingrays are close to guaranteeing themselves a spot in the Kelly Cup playoffs, leaving the Cincinnati Cyclones out in the cold. After South Carolina’s win, Orlando now faces the task of picking up at least two wins in its final three games – all against Florida – to earn a series with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.
With head coach Drake Berehowsky giving netminder Ryan Massa a much needed day off after playing ten consecutive games, the call went to Gillam who less than two weeks ago was backstopping Cornell University in the NCAA Division 1 playoffs. His teammates got him an early lead 2:27 into the first period when Marchment kept the puck in the South Carolina defensive zone, sending it to Darik Angeli down low. Marchment moved in and took a return feed from Angeli, rifling the puck past Stingrays goalie Parker Milner for his 12th goal of the season.
Gillam was rock solid amid a hard push by South Carolina shortly after the score until the 7:49 mark when former Solar Bear Max Nicastro fired a shot from the point that was redirected home by Kevin Dufour to even the score. For Dufour, it was his second goal of the season and his second in as many games.
Gillam and Milner then settled in for a classic goaltenders battle that lasted through the remainder of the first and the entire second period. Gillam was the busier of the two netminders, especially in the second frame when the Stingrays unloaded with 16 shots on the rookie. At the end of forty minutes, the shot clock read 27-26 in favor of the home team but the scoreboard was still knotted at 1-1.
Needing a win badly, the Stingrays broke the tie early in the final frame. At the 2:33 mark, Marcus Perrier, who had scuffled with Marchment in the middle stanza earning each a roughing minor, broke into the Solar Bears end and fired a wrist shot that eluded Gillam’s blocker side glove for his 8th score of the season and a 2-1 lead for the home team.
Orlando, which went 0-for-3 on the power play in the contest, got a man advantage opportunity just under two minutes after Perrier’s goal. The Solar Bears came close when defenseman and captain Eric Baier beat Milner with a drive but the puck caught the post and caromed harmlessly away.
Trying to infuse their team with some energy, Orlando’s Justin Buzzeo and South Carolina’s Steven McParland dropped the gloves 8:21 into the frame. The fight was a spirited one but neither team seemed to draw upon it for a push.
Gillam made one of his better saves in the latter stages of the period when he reached behind him to snatch the rebound of a shot by Dufour that got between his legs and trickled toward the goal line. Spurred on by the effort shown by their new goalie, the Solar Bears pulled even with 3:15 left in regulation when a shot by Jon Jutzi glanced off a defender into an open slot. Marchment dove out and got his stick on the puck and swept it into the net past Milner for his second of the game and fourth against the Stingrays.
Late in regulation, Gillam came up with a huge save, denying a wraparound with a kick save to help send the game into extra time.
In overtime, Tony Cameranesi had a golden opportunity to win it but he got too close to Milner who anticipated a move and took the puck off the rookie’s stick blade. Soon after, the Stingrays took advantage of a defensive miscue in the neutral zone to get a two-on-one break. McParland carried the disc to the base of the circle to Gillam’s left and fired it at the net. The puck glanced off Gillam and the near post before squirting across the crease where Devin was waiting to bury it in the back of the net to end the game.
Milner was stellar in the net for South Carolina, stopping 37 of the 39 Orlando shots he faced.
The Solar Bears begin their final push when the Everblades come to the Amway Center Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. puck drop. While that game is going on, the Stingrays will be facing off against Atlanta on the road.
Notes: Defenseman Daniel Maggio, who was injured Friday night, was placed on injured reserve on Saturday. In his place, the Solar Bears signed defenseman Blake Thompson out of NCAA Division 3 St. Norbert College. Thompson is a former college teammate of Orlando forward Joe Perry… Chris Crane extended his point streak to four games with an assist on Marchment’s first score while Marchment’s point streak hit four games… With his assist, Jutzi now has a three game point streak.
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