Rookie Chris Bradley scored his first professional goal Sunday night (Photo courtesy of F. Medina/Orlando Solar Bears)
ORLANDO, FLA – Playing each other for the third time in four days, the Orlando Solar Bears and Adirondack Thunder were going to be hard pressed to duplicate the intensity of Saturday’s matchup. Whichever team could muster up enough offense and play a steady defensive game was likely to take the rubber game of the the three-game set.
In other words: do whatever is necessary to win because come playoff time the “W” is all that counts.
Orlando (30-24-3-5, 68 points) used a three goal first period while goalie Ryan Massa stopped 37 of 40 shots to down Adirondack (35-23-2-4, 76 points) 5-3 Sunday night at the Amway Center. The win allowed the Solar Bears to move ahead of Atlanta into ninth place in the ECHL’s Eastern conference playoff race, just four points out of eighth and five points away from a tie for sixth.
Denver Manderson, Brady Vail and Rylan Schwartz each had a goal and an assist in the contest to lead the Solar Bears. The other Orlando goals came from defenseman Rory Rawlyk and rookie Chris Bradley who collected his first professional goal in just his third game.
“I thought our guys did a really good job of weathering the storm tonight,” Orlando head coach Anthony Noreen said. “I thought the chances we did get, the grade-As we got, we buried. That’s what we have to do against a good team.”
Noreen has constantly been concerned about his team’s starts to games and Sunday was no different. The Thunder had something to prove after Saturday’s loss and they kept Solar Bears netminder Ryan Massa busy early on.
Following a spirited bout between Orlando’s Mark Louis and Adirondack’s Luke Curadi, the Thunder drew first blood when Ryan Constant unleashed a shot from the top of the circle to Massa’s right through a partial screen that found the back of the net. The goal was Constant’s seventh of the season.
The Solar Bears responded 36 seconds later, tying the score when Schwartz redirected a T.J. Foster shot past goalie Drew Fielding for his 17th in 30 games. Orlando then took the lead at the 9:40 mark when Jack Rodewald poked the puck to Vail in the slot and the Florida native the rest. He held the puck to force Fielding to make a move and then rifled a short to the short side for his 19th.
Vail then became the facilitator late in the opening frame. After taking a feed from Eric Baier, Vail looked up and saw Rawlyk cruising in from the point on the backside of the play. Vail launched a perfect pass to Rawlyk who one-timed the puck past Fielding for his third since joining the Solar Bears lineup.
“What I loved about the first period was I thought they had the momentum early [and] they scored first and I thought the switch went on for us,” Noreen said. “I thought we took over the first period from that point on and obviously score three right away which was huge.”
After scoring three times on eight shots in the first, Orlando started the second just as efficiently. Just 34 seconds in, Bradley jumped into a rush, taking a feed from Johnny McInnis and busting into the Adirondack end. As the defense backed off, the rookie got to the face-off dot and went five hole to beat Fielding for his first career score. It was the first shot of the frame for the Solar Bears, making it four goals on nine shots. It also ended Fielding’s night as Mavric Parks came on in relief.
At the other end of the ice, Massa had thrown up a brick wall after allowing Constant’s tally in the first. He was sailing along until Curadi snuck in on the weak side, took a pass from Michael Kirkpatrick and scored his fourth at the 13:16 mark to cut the Orlando lead in half.
Adirondack began to swing the momentum late in the second and early in the third but Massa was back on his game. He made a game-changing play a little before the midpoint of the frame when he dove head first to poke a loose puck away from Greg Wolfe who would have had a chance to trim the margin to one.
“When it’s a 4-2 game and he comes out and makes that poke check save on the loose puck to stop a breakaway, that was probably the momentum turner,” Noreen said. “I thought from that point on, they had very few looks.”
Manderson salted the game away on a power play 11:35 into the stanza, taking a pass from Brenden Miller and one-timed it ala Steven Stamkos into the back of the net for his fourth of the year.
“I just got an open look and the pass was right on so I just buried my head and shot it as hard as I could,” Manderson said.
Peter MacArthur scored a late power play goal with Psrks pulled for an extra attacker but it was far too little too late to alter the final outcome.
With their fifth win in the last six games, the Solar Bears will now have a short turnaround before hosting division rival Greenville in yet another must win situation. Game time on Wednesday at the Amway Center is set for 7 pm.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.