ESTERO, FLA – Seven minutes into the third period Saturday night, Orlando Solar Bears forward Patrick Watling called for a pass believing that he had a chance for a game-tying power play score. When the pass came, Watling attempted the shot but his stick broke, leading to a short-handed rush and goal by Florida Everblades forward Brant Harris.
In short, it was exactly the way the Solar Bears season played out only in a condensed form.
Ralph Cuddemi scored the first two goals of his professional career and goalie Rasmus Tirronen was nearly perfect as the Everblades (46-23-1-2, 95 points) defeated the Solar Bears (33-30-4-5, 75 points) 5-1 at the Germain Arena to close the 2015-2016 ECHL regular season for both teams. Florida now will head on to the Kelly Cup playoffs and a first round matchup with the Wheeling Nailers while Orlando heads home for the summer.
Rylan Schwartz capped an outstanding 40-game run for the Solar Bears by scoring his 23rd goal – the only score for the visitors on an otherwise dismal night. With the loss, Orlando’s two-year streak of playoff appearances came to an end.
The tone for the game was set in the opening period. Despite having nothing to play for after securing the fourth seed in the post-season on Friday night, the Everblades came out determined to get themselves ready for a deep playoff run. Florida stormed the Orlando defensive zone and kept Solar Bears goalie Rob Madore very busy.
The host Everblades capitalized on a power play opportunity to get on the scoreboard first. It came at the 4:17 mark of the opening frame when Brendan O’Donnell took a pass, drove wide to get around a defender and lifted a shot over the blocker glove of Madore into the top corner. The tally was O’Donnell’s 17th of the season and gave the University of North Dakota product a nine-game goal scoring streak that tied the franchise record set by Keith Anderson in 2003.
Florida extended its lead to two late in the period when captain Matt Marquardt received a perfect pass from Greg Gibson and blasted a one-timer into the back of the net for his 15th of the season. The goal came with the man advantage and was all that the Everblades would need in the contest.
Tirronen, who had backstopped Friday’s win, had what could best be described as a rocking chair period. How easy was it? Orlando did not register its first shot on net until during a power play with less than a minute to go in the stanza. The Solar Bears finished the period with just two shots to ten faced by Madore.
The netminders battled through a second period that saw neither team establish much offense until the latter stages. The squads combined for just two recorded shots on net in the first half of the frame.
A late power play chance gave the chance for the Solar Bears to gain a little momentum. The man advantage turned successful when Schwartz rifled a wrist shot from the high slot that beat Tirronen with 27.9 seconds left before the second intermission to trim Florida’s lead to one.
Another power play 5:28 into the third gave Orlando a chance to tie the game. Late in the advantage, Watling’s stick failed him, leading to an odd-man rush by O’Donnell and Harris with Harris netting his goal that took the wind out of the Solar Bears sails. For Harris it was his 19th of the season while it was the beginning of the end for the Solar Bears.
Less than a minute later, Kevin Lynch took the puck behind the Orlando net after holding it in at the blueline. He found a passing lane and fed the puck to the front where Cuddemi banged it home for his first pro score. Then at the 11:54 mark, Cuddemi split the Orlando defense and deposited a shot in the top corner over the Solar Bears goalie for his second of the period.
Florida’s defense held the Solar Bears to just two shots over the first ten minutes of the final period and five total shots in the frame. Tirronen handled all of them to pick up his ninth victory in 15 appearances for the Everblades.
Madore finished the game with 25 saves – several in key moments while the outcome was in doubt – in suffering the loss. Orlando ended the game with one power play goal in five chances while Florida went 1-4.
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