ORLANDO, FL – Some nights it takes a full sixty minute effort to win a hockey game. On other nights being opportunistic at the right time can be all that is necessary to come away with two points. Saturday night at the Amway Center, the Orlando Solar Bears were able to parlay a couple of solid periods of play and an opportunistic forward into a needed win.
Orlando forward Jean Dupuy tees off on the puck for the first of his two goals in Saturday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Jean Dupuy scored two goals including the game-winner in the third period as the Solar Bears (5-8-3-0, 13 points) edged the South Carolina Stingrays (10-3-2-0, 22 points) 3-2 in front of an announced crowd of 5,740. Max Novak had the other score for Orlando and goalie Cal Heeter rebounded from a tough stretch early in the final frame to keep the Stingrays from earning a point.
Given the tough start the Solar Bears have had to begin the season, Saturday’s victory was as much about perseverence under pressure and finding a way to win despite playing a slightly less than perfect game.
“We’ll take the win. I thought our game was very sporadic tonight,” Orlando head coach Drake Berehowsky said about the victory. “I don’t think we put together a full sixty minutes but the guys battled back and they found a way to win which was great.”
Coming off a night before Thanksgiving overtime loss to Jacksonville, the Solar Bears certainly did not want to fall for a second straight contest, especially with it coming at home. Add in the fact that it was Marvel Comics Night with Orlando wearing Captain America-themed jerseys (as opposed to South Carolina which was dressed as Iron Man) and there were many reasons why the game was important to the home team.
The teams struggled through most of the opening period to create offense, giving the fans the sense of a holiday food hangover. Neither Heeter nor South Carolina netminder Jeff Jakaitis – a noted Solar Bear killer a couple of years back – had to work that hard as the offenses combined for a total of sixteen shots through the first fifteen minutes of play.
The Stingrays had a power play with just under four minutes left before the intermission but it failed on two counts. On count one, Orlando’s penalty killers did a superb job of killing it off. On the second count, the kill led to a counter attack that turned into a goal. Defenseman Nolan Valleau started it off by grabbing the puck and skating it into the neutral zone. At that moment, Marcus Basara – who had been in the penalty box – hit the ice flying and took a pass from Valleau. Basara drove into the offensive zone along the boards while J.J. Piccinich drove the slot and Novak filled the lane busting in as a trailer. With the Stingrays defense backing off because Piccinich, Basara found a lane for a cross-ice pass that Novak one-timed past Jakaitis for his sixth goal of the season.
Orlando’s Max Novak picked up his sixth goal of the season Saturday night (Photo courtesy of Fernandon Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
“Bas [Basara] picked up the puck and J.J. [Piccinich] was kind of driving the net pushing the defense back,” Novak said. “He threw a good pass through – from my view it looked like it went through three pairs of skates – and it ended up on my stick. At that point, the goalie had a full crease to slide over so it was a good amount of net to shoot at and I put it in.”
The momentum built by the late Novak score continued into the second period when Dupuy became the focal point of the offense. A little over four minutes into the middle frame, Kristian Pospisil – who was in the lineup for the first time since October 22nd – put the puck on the stick of defenseman Jeff King. King zipped down the boards into the corner to Jakaitis’ right. Dupuy immediately went to the slot and found lots of space, enough for King to get the puck to him for a one-time shot that beat the goalie to the other side of the net. The goal was the third of the year for Dupuy.
” It was a broken play on an entry and Kinger made a nice passto me in the slot,” Dupuy said. “I just tried to put it across the goal.”
While the offense was increasing the margin, Heeter and the defense were locked in. They allowed the Stingrays just five shots on net during the frame, giving the visitors only fourteen through two periods.
Things changed – and not in a good way – for the Solar Bears early in the third. Penalties to Sam Jardine and Matias Cleland put Orlando down two men for 25 seconds and by one for an extended stretch. It was during Cleland’s call that South Carolina cashed in when a shot by Frankie Simonelli hit a couple of skates but was stopped by Heeter. The rebound got away and found Tim McGauley who from one knee buried it for a power play tally and his first of the season.
A little over three minutes later, the Stingrays tied the game thanks to being more lucky than good. Taking a feed from Patrick Gaul, Joe Devin streaked into the Orlando defensive zone. As he got to the base of the face-off circle, he put a shot on net that Heeter handled. Unfortunately for him, the puck squirted away and Devin flipped a second chance try at the cage. It somehow snuck its way through Heeter’s gear and slowly trickled into the net for Devin’s fifth of the year.
Jean Dupuy celebrates his game-winning goal in the third period of Saturday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
In prior games, giving up a two-goal lead would have been the beginning of the end for the Solar Bears. On this night however, the team dug down deep and found the magic that was needed to prevail.
The winning sequence began as a power play with a little under ten minutes left in regulation. Although the man advantage failed to provide a score, it came just seconds after. J.C. Campagna carried the puck into the South Carolina end and put a shot on net that Jakaitis stopped. As Campagna fired, Dupuy headed for the front of the net and was in position to grab the rebound, drag it around the goalie and deposit it in the back of the net for his second of the game.
From there, the game belonged to Heeter. After allowing the two goals early in the period, Heeter dusted himself off and went to work. He fended off everything he faced in the final thirteen minutes of play on the way to a 23-save performance. Even a late Stingrays power play and the pulling of Jakaitis (24 saves) could not knock Heeter off his game in the closing seconds.
“I thought Cal played a great game. He gave us an opportunity to win,” Berehowsky said about his netminder. “He made some big saves.That’s the kind of goaltendending that we love to see. We just want him to keep going and keep getting better.”
Novak acknowledged that getting right back into the win column was very important to keeping the Solar Bears on the right track the team seems to be on at the moment.
“It’s definately good to not let those losses pile up on each other like that during that stretch we had [earlier in the season],” Novak said. “A good bounce back after that overtime loss was big.”
Notes: Orlando outshot South Carolina 27-25 in the game… The Solar Bears failed to score on six power play opportunities while the Stingrays finished 1-for-6… To make room for Pospisil to come off the injured reserve list, the Solar Bears traded forward Logan Nelson to Fort Wayne for future considerations… Campagna has four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in four games since joining the Solar Bears… With the victory, Heeter is currently on a three-game winning streak… The Solar Bears and Stingrays will complete their weekend set with a 1:30 p.m. game Sunday afternoon at the Amway Center.
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