ESTERO, FLA – After having five days off for the ECHL All-Star break, the Orlando Solar Bears were hoping to carry the momentum from last Saturday’s win in Alaska over to Friday’s contest with the Florida Everblades. Instead, they found themselves on the short end of a feeding frenzy found in the Florida swamps.
Michael Kirkpatrick and Brant Harris notched a goal and two assists each to lead a balanced attack as the host Everblades (26-8-1-2, 55 points) put a bite on the Solar Bears (20-14-4-2, 46 points) to the tune of a 7-2 win in front of an announced crowd of 5,389 at Germain Arena. The victory was Florida’s fifth in seven meetings against its in-state rival so far this season.
Patrick Watling and Chase Witala were the only Solar Bears to beat Everblades netminder Anthony Peters who finished the game with 36 saves.
Coming off a nine goal explosion against the Alaska Aces, Orlando had hoped to continue that scoring touch against the high-powered Everblades. The Solar Bears had an opportunity toward the middle of the first period to do just that when Florida’s Logan Roe and Zach Kamrass were hit with overlapping penalties, giving the visitors 33 seconds of five-on-three power play time as part of a run more than three minutes with the man advantage.
Orlando’s special teams units failed to find the game’s opening goal – a point that came back to haunt the Solar Bears just over a minute after the extended power play elapsed. When Orlando’s Daniel Maggio went to the box at 11:34, it took just nine seconds for the Everblades to score when Brenden O’Donnell won a faceoff back to Akim Aliu who immediately fed Josh Wesley for a bomb from the blueline that beat Solar Bears goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo over the catching glove for Wesley’s third goal of the season.
Just over a minute later, Florida extended its lead to two when Alexander Kuqali set up Brant Harris for a shot from the top of the circle that found the back of the net for Harris’ 15th of the year.
Orlando outshot Florida 13-11 in the opening frame, giving the Solar Bears some hope that they could quickly erase the Everblades cushion but that did not happen. At the 3:31 mark of the second period, Dalton Smith showed a bunch of skill when he beat Kaskisuo with a wraparound for his fourth score of the season. That goal, coming on Florida’s 13th shot of the contest, was the last that Kaskisuo would see as Orlando head coach Drake Berehowsky replaced the rookie netminder with Jay Williams, who was acquired in a trade with Atlanta last week.
Williams did not fare much better as the Everblades quickly solved the new goalie. It came when Kirkpatrick sent a perfect cross-slot pass to Matt Berry who one-timed the puck into the back of the net at the 4:49 mark. For Berry, it was his 12th of the season.
The Solar Bears dug in and started to make a comeback midway through the frame. Watling got the visitors on the board when he took a perfect pass from Alexandre Carrier and broke in alone. He managed to fake Peters out and slid the puck home for his ninth of the year. Just shy of two minutes later, Solar Bears newcomer Milos Bubela got the puck to Witala in the slot. Witala lost control but got it back and whipped a shot past a surprised Peters for his third goal of the year to cut the margin to 4-2.
Orlando felt it had the momentum going its way but it came to a crashing halt late in the period. With Carrier in the penalty box, Mike Ferrantino cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Curt Gogol for his eighth tally of the season. The second power play goal of the game by the Everblades gave the home team a commanding 5-2 lead heading to the third period.
Early in the final stanza, Kirkpatrick showed off his speed by zipping past two Orlando defenders and popping the puck past Williams for his 12th of the year. O’Donnell finished off the scoring at the 17:55 mark when he took the puck from Harris, drove to the net and went blocker side on the Orlando netminder for his team-leading 23rd goal.
Notes: Florida’s special teams played a key role in the contest as the power play was a perfect 2-for-2 while the penalty killers denied Orlando on all three opportunities the Solar Bears had with the man advantage… Both Orlando goalies made ten saves in the game, Kaskisuo’s coming in 23:31 of playing time while Williams saw 36:29 of action… Bubela’s assist was his first in a Solar Bears uniform… Twelve different Everblades had at least one point in the contest with O’Donnell, Ferrantino and Berry (one goal and one assist each) joining Kirkpatrick and Harris in the multiple point club…The two teams will head back up the interstate to Orlando for the back end of the weekend home-and-home set Saturday night at the Amway Center. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
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