ORLANDO, FLA – Two weeks ago, the Orlando Solar Bears took two out of three games against their arch-rivals, the Florida Everblades, proving that they could play with the best in the ECHL’s Eastern Conference. Last weekend, The Solar Bears went to Newfoundland and won twice over the North Division’s top club, the Newfoundland Growlers.
Wednesday night, Orlando returned to the Amway Center to again battle the Everblades and although they made a heoric effort in erasing a three goal deficit, the Solar Bears just could not finish the job and earn themselves a sixth win in the season series.
Orlando’s Mitch Hults (25, black) carves out some space in front of Florida goalie Jeremy Helvig during Wednesday’s first period (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Led by two goals from Nathan Perkovich, the visiting Everblades (43-15-5-0) came away with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Solar Bears (33-21-4-1) in front of an announced crowd of 4,289. Troy Bourke, Tayler Thompson, Otto Somppi and Cody Donaghey each scored once for Orlando as the home team pulled even with a furious second period comeback but failed to complete the full task.
“I thought we only played half the game. They’re a good team and you can’t afford to take thirty minutes off,” Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky said. “I think we have a tired group and they need to rest and regen(erate) and hopefully we’ll get back at it on Saturday.”
Wednesday’s contest was the first at home for the Solar Bears since a boatload of roster of changes in the wake of last week’s trade deadline and reassignments by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Syracuse Crunch and San Jose Barracuda not to mention a second callup to Manitoba for Brent Pederdsen. Orlando was also missing Colby McAuley who was suspended for a game following his game misconduct in last Sunday’s contest in Newfoundland.
The home fans had high hopes for their favorite team with the recent impressive play shown against two of the league’s best. Neither team started off well as the first shot of the game was recorded by the Solar Bears 3:18 into the first period.
Once the Everblades found their shooting legs, they began pounding shots on Orlando goalie Connor Ingram, who was making his first appearance at home. They recorded seven straight shots on net, a run that culminated when Shane Walsh took advantage of an Orlando defensive zone miscue to grab the puck in the slot and beat Ingram with a shot that snuck its way between the goalie’s leg pads and in for Walsh’s 10th goal of the season.
Just about three minutes later, the Solar Bears struck for the game-tying score. Somppi had the key play, a shot that pinballed off some bodies back to Bourke. Bourke took advantage of the traffic and beat Florida netminder Jeremy Helvig for his 9th of the year at the 10:37 mark.
“[I’ve] just been playing simple, playing hard. The ice time’s there and they’re giving me all the opportunities,” Bourke, who has three goals and eight assists in six games since returning to Orlando, said. “It’s on me to produce and be the guy who gets some numbers on the board and just help the team out. That’s part of my job.”
The Solar Bears special teams, which had recovered from an awful night in St. John’s last Friday to have a decent weekend, fell victim at the 12:18 juncture of the opening period. It came when a pass from Logan Roe along the boards became a shot for Patrick McCarron. McCarron’s drive was redirected by Philippe Hudon into the back of the net for Hudon’s first goal with the Everblades and a 2-1 lead for the visitors from southwest Florida after one.
The previous three games between the two bitter rivals had been virtually void of the normal bad blood that usually brought on fights galore. That trend all came to a halt in the second period when just 1:27 in, Florida’s Mitch Vandergunst and new Solar Bear Shaquille Merasty dropped the gloves in a heavyweight tussle.
Whether the fight woke the Everblades up or not, they did start a run of goals at the 5:56 mark of the middle frame. Perkovich started it by causing a turnover and skating from the corner to the net along the goalline without so much as a threat from and Orlando defender. Ingram attempted to lunge and knock the puck away but Perkovich deftly drew it around the sliding netminder and tucked it home for his 20th of the season and a 3-1 margin.
Following a subsequent fight between Solar Bear Trevor Olson and the Everblades Riley Weselowski, Florida got its second power play of the night and took just seven seconds to score. Again it was Perkovich who did the honors, skating into a loose puck after a faceoff and firing a shot that hit the skate of Orlando defender Kevin Lohan and bounced in for Perkovich’ second of the night and 21st of the season.
At 4-1, Berehowsky sensed a need for a change in momentum and he pulled Ingram (4goals allowed on 19 shots) and sent Corbin Boes in between the pipes.
The Solar Bears celebrate Tayler Thompson’s second period goal that started a big comeback Wednesday night (Photocourtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
It took a bit of time for the bench to get the message but boy was it received. The Solar Bears started their monster comeback with 5:45 remaining in the middle frame when Thompson tracked down a loose puck in the high slot and whipped a turnaround shot that found its way past Helvig for Thompson’s 6th of the season.
Forty-seven seconds later, Orlando pulled within one when with a delayed penalty coming on the Everblades, Lohan stepped into a shot that looked to be sailing wide of the cage. Somppi was on that side and got his stick blade on the puck, changing its trajectory from going wide to on target and it slid past Helvig for Somppi’s 7th as a member of the Solar Bears.
Fight number three of the stanza came at the 18:10 mark when Thompson and Florida’s Matt Finn (a former Solar Bears) got nasty with each other after a hit in the corner. Finn picked up an extra minor penalty and when the Everblades’ McCarron was whistled less than a minute later, Orlando found itself with a five-on-three man advantage. After working the puck around, Michael Brodzinski (three assists) put the puck on a tee for Donaghey who nearly blew a hole in the back of the net for his 13th goal of the season and a 4-4 tie with 21.9 seconds to go in the second frame.
“That [energy] comes from all lines. Everyone was clicking and a couple of fights there really revved us up,” Bourke said. “I think it was mainly that [Thompson’s goal] that got us fired up and gave us a little spark.”
The Solar Bears had an opportunity to cash in on McCarron’s penalty that wrapped around to the start of the third. Orlando failed to capitalize on that chance and another opportuinty midway through the final twenty minutes that morphed from a four-on-three into a five-on-three power play but it was not to be. The home team finished with a 10-5 shot advantage in the final period but the score remained tied at 4-4 as the game went into overtime.
The hockey gods seemed to be smiling on Orlando again as the horn sounded the end of regulation when Finn was caught for cross-checking. It gave the Solar Bears a power play of the four-on-three variety to open the extra period. They moved the puck around but never found a clean shooting lane and the opportunity elapsed.
Orlando’s Otto Somppi (41, black) looks for the puck along with Florida netminder Jeremy Helvig (60) and defenseman Logan Roe (47) during Wednesday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
The Everblades also had a chance a man up when the Solar Bears were caught for having too many men on the ice. Florida did put three shots on net but Boes, who finished as the tough luck loser with a perfect 12-for-12 save effort in relief, fended them off along with three more as the Everblades outshot the home team 6-0 in the five minute frame.
In the shootout, Perkovich gave the visitors a lead in round one with a shot elevated to Boes’ stick side but Bourke tied it with a backhander in the top of the second. The Everlades went back in front when Blake Winiecki went five-hole on the Solar Bears rookie goalie, sending the contest to the third and final round. It came down to Hults, who tried to slip the puck past Helvig (26 saves) but the Florida netminder made the save to close out the win.
Asked about the team’s effort, Brodzinski pointed to the fact that giving teams like the Everblades a lead usually spells disaster.
“It was a great comeback but you just can’t spot a team like that three goals,” Brodzinski, a San Jose prospect, said. “They’re a good team and if we don’t bring our all every game, they’re going to capitalize on our mistakes.”
The road for the Solar Bears does not get any easier as the Idaho Steelheads, the second place team in the Mountain Division, pays a visit to the City Beautiful for three games on Saturday, Sunday and next Tuesday. Brodzinski said he expects it will be yet another good test of just where Orlando is as it heads toward the Kelly Cup playoffs next month.
“It’ll be a good test for us,” he said. “Everybody’s excited to get back at it already and I think it will be a real good test for us.”
Orlando’sMike Monfredo (3, balck) and Florida’s Tommy Thompson (21, green) search for the puck during Wednesday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Notes: Final shots were 33-30 in favor of Florida… The Solar Bears went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Everblades finished 2-for-4 with the man advantage… Florida’s Perkovich recorded his fourth two-goal game of the season with three coming in his last six games. He also recorded a pair in the Everblades last visit to the Amway Center back on March 2nd… The Solar Bears season seried record against the Everblades fell to 5-3-1-1 with two games remaining, both of them coming down in Estero… With his power play goal on Wednesday, Donaghey now has 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) during man advantage situations, equaling the club record set by Nolan Valleau last season (6 goals, 11 assists for 17 points)… Orlando’s Bourke has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in his last three games… Sunday’s Solar Bears game against Idaho will be played at the RDV Sportsplex Ice Den because of scheduling issues at the Amway Center. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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