ESTERO, FLA – Saturday night at Hertz Arena, the Orlando Solar Bears and Florida Everblades had different agendas heading into Game 2 of their best-of-seven South Division finals series. The visiting Solar Bears had an opportunity to sweep the weekend and head home up two games to none. On the other hand, the host Everblades wanted badly to avenge their overtime loss in Game 1 on Friday and send the series to Central Florida all even.
And for the second night in a row, it took extra time to decide a winner with the team in a seemingly must win situation heading out happy.
Florida’s Tommy Thompson scored 12:08 into overtime to give the Everblades a 3-2 victory over Orlando in front of an announced crowd of 4,200. Thompson’s second tally of the post-season ended another brilliant duel between the goalies as the Solar Bears’ Connor Ingram and the Everblades’ Callum Booth combined for 70 saves on 75 shots in the contest.
Thompson’s goal came on an odd-man rush initiated by Florida defenseman Patrick McCarron who got the puck to Thompson who sped up ice with teammates Grant Arnold and Sam Warning joining him on the attack. The Solar Bears defense, playing for a pass, gave Thompson enough room to get into the mid-slot area before rifling a shot past Ingram’s catching glove to light the lamp and give his team a much needed victory.
The ending denied Orlando what would have been a message-sending win as the Solar Bears erased a two-goal deficit in the third period and dominated play but failed to find the range for their own game-winning score.
Saturday’s first period started much like the opening stanza did on Friday as both teams experienced man advantage situations before the frame was halfway done. The Everblades got two chances in the first eight minutes but failed to dent Ingram while the Solar Bears had one opportunity with nothing to show.
The biggest difference between Game 1 and Game 2 was that the contest’s initial score came in the first. With 4:14 left in the frame, Florida’s Kyle Platzer won an offensive zone faceoff cleanly back to Ben Masella at the point. Masella skated the puck around looking for a shooting lane and finally found one as he pulled into the circle to Ingram’s right. Using a screen in front of the Orlando netminder, Masella fired a shot that snuck under Ingram’s left arm and into the cage for Masella’s third goal of the playoffs.
Playing with the lead and on a carryover power play from the late stages of the first, the Everblades took advantage and increased their lead to two less than a minute into the middle stanza. Justin Auger sent a pass back to the point where one-time Solar Bear Matt Finn was waiting. Finn unleashed a bomb that Ingram stopped but Blake Winiecki was in the right place to bang home the rebound for his sixth of the post-season and Florida’s first power play goal of the series.
Winiecki’s score got the Solar Bears attention and buoyed by a power play 6:54 into the frame, Orlando’s offense began to find itself. In the span of just over two minutes than encompassed the man advantage, the visitors teed off and put six shots on Booth. The Everblades netminder stayed cool under fire, especially when he faced shots by Chris LeBlanc, Jonne Tammela and Brent Pedersen in a matter of five seconds, turning all of them away. In all, Booth faced and stopped 16 Solar Bears shots in the period.
While he was not as busy as his counterpart, Ingram had to be sharp on a couple of occasions to keep Orlando within reach. His best save of the second period came with 5:30 left before the intermission when he robbed Masella who had a wide open chance from the slot that Ingram snatched with his catching glove. Ingram finished the frame with six saves but he kept the deficit at two heading to the third.
The Solar Bears needed a jump start and got it 6:03 into the final frame with solid plays on both ends. It started with defenseman Kevin Lohan taking a feed from Alexander Kuqali along the blueline. As Lohan loaded up for a slap shot, LeBlanc headed to the front of the net where he found room to set up. As Lohan’s drive came in, LeBlanc got his stick blade on the puck, sending it sailing past Booth for his third goal of the playoffs and trimming the deficit to 2-1.
Feeling a change in the game’s momentum, Orlando continued to press the Everblades defense, ringing up four of the next five shots registered in the contest. All of the push that the Solar Bears were building up resulted in a game-tying tally.
Just past the midway point of the period, the Solar Bears mounted an attack. Michael Brodzinski started the whole thing with a pass to Alex Schoenborn who had Pedersen join him on the rush. Schoenborn turned on the jets and turned an Everblades defender, providing a lane to the net. As a second defender came over to confront him by sliding along the ice, Schoenborn snuck a pass across the top of the crease to Pedersen who was waiting on the back door to jam the puck in for his second tally of the post season and a tie score.
Orlando continued to dominate play, outshooting Florida 5-2 over the final 9:24 of regulation. The Solar Bears had one last chance to find a game-winner in regulation with their fourth power play of the night but Booth handled both shots that got through. The final shots count in that last twenty minutes was 12-4 in favor of the visitors but the scoreboard still read 2-2 and the contest headed to overtime.
The early stages of the extra period were hectic but both goalies seemed to thrive under the pressure. Booth was tested first by Zach Frye and Tayler Thompson followed by Ingram denying opportunities by Warning, Justin Auger, John McCarron and Masella.
After some more back and forth, the Everblades mounted what proved to be the final attack of the night that resulted in Thompson’s lamp-lighter.
Ingram finished the night with 29 saves on 32 shots in suffering his first loss since Game 1 of the divisional semifinals against South Carolina. Booth, playing in his fourth consecutive contest, picked up his third victory with 41 saves on 43 shots faced.
The two teams will now head back up Interstate 75 to I-4 and the City Beautiful for three contests at the Amway Center. Game 3 of the series is set for Tuesday, April 30th at 7 p.m. with Game 4 on Thursday, May 2nd and a now necessary Game 5 on Friday, May 3rd.
Notes: Orlando finished the night 0-for-4 on the power play and is now 0-for-5 in two contests while Florida went 1-for-3 and is now 1-for-6 in the series… With his assist on LeBlanc’s tally, Orlando’s Kuqali registered his fourth helper of the post-season, tying him with Troy Bourke for the team lead… Schoenborn, who had not played since Game 4 of the South Carolina series, extended his personal point streak to two games (2 assists)… Booth’s 41 saves was a career high… Florida’s Masella now leads all ECHL defensemen in post-season with three goals and six assists for nine points after his score on Saturday.
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