ESTERO, FLA – A year ago, the Orlando Solar Bears saw their hopes of a run to the ECHL’s Kelly Cup finals ended in southwest Florida at the hands of the Florida Everblades. Friday night, the same two teams met again with the Everblades looking to repeat last year’s dismissal of their in-state rival and thanks to Kevin Lynch, it was déjà vu all over again.
Lynch posted a hat trick and added an assist as Florida (45-23-1-2, 93 points) defeated Orlando (33-29-4-5, 75 points) 5-3 in front of an announced crowd of 5,429 at the Germain Arena. The win was the Everblades ninth in thirteen meetings with the Solar Bears this season.
Eric Faille, Rylan Schwartz and Erik Bradford each had a goal and an assist for the visitors from Orlando. The Solar Bears had been in search of their third straight playoff appearance before being eliminated.
Orlando had actually been mathematically knocked out of the race for a post-season berth Wednesday night but Thursday’s thrilling overtime win had postponed the potential official elimination to Friday. The Everblades will be the Eastern conference’s fourth seed when the playoffs begin next week.
The third contest between the Sunshine State rivals in four days began as a struggle between the netminders, Orlando’s Ryan Massa and Florida’s Rasmus Tirronen. The pair took turns leaving the opposition shaking their heads, especially Massa who faced nineteen shots in the opening frame.
The only goal scored in the first period came with just over a minute left until the intermission. The Everblades dumped the puck behind the Orlando net where Massa went to play it. His attempt to move the puck up along the glass met a bad bounce that ended up in front where Lynch put it into the wide open net for his 20th of the season.
The Everblades continued to throw everything they had at the Solar Bears and expanded their lead in the second. At the 5:32 mark, the red-hot Brendan O’Donnell extended his goal scoring streak to eight games by beating Massa over the shoulder after an Orlando turnover. Two and a half minutes later, the puck was pushed in the direction of Lynch who drifted in from the blueline and unleashed a hard shot that sailed past the screened goalie to make it 3-0.
The Solar Bears were desperate for a spark and finally found it at the 12:01 mark when Faille converted the rebound of a shot by Brandon Anselmini for his 24th of the year. The assist by Anselmini was the rookie’s first professional point.
Buoyed by Faille’s tally, Orlando began the third period with a strategy of trying to stretch the Everblades defense in hopes of creating breakouts. Both Brady Vail and Brett Findlay had golden opportunities thanks to perfect passes but Tirronen (27 saves) turned the puck away each time.
The game’s first penalty was called on Orlando’s Johnny McInnis with 6:39 left in the final frame and Florida took full advantage. Some pretty tic-tac-toe passing between Matt Marquardt and Matt Willows led to a pass to Greg Gibson who one-timed a drive into the back of the net for his fifth of the season.
The Solar Bears trimmed the Florida lead back to two when Schwartz set up Bradford for the rookie’s tenth score of the year. A couple of minutes later, Orlando head coach Anthony Noreen pulled Massa (36 saves) for an extra attacker and was rewarded when Bradford set up Schwartz for a one-timer that beat Tirronen with 2:12 left in regulation.
Down by one, the Solar Bears pressed hard for the equalizer but Tirronen held the fort until Lynch completed his hat trick with six seconds remaining to create the final score.
The teams will close out the regular season Saturday night at Germain Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 pm.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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