BRAMPTON, ONT – The Orlando Solar Bears knew going into Thursday’s night game that the Brampton Beast hockey team was not the same squad that lost three straight to the Solar Bears back in late November in Orlando. Through forty minutes, the Beast looked like they might just get their first ever win over Orlando.
That was when Eric Faille stepped up and said “not on my watch”.
Faille scored twice in the third period and added an assist to lead the Solar Bears (32-23-6-3, 73 points) to a come-from-behind 5-3 victory over the host Beast (36-21-3-4, 79 points) in front of an announced crowd of 2,514 at the Powerade Centre. With the victory, Orlando regained fourth place in the ECHL’s South division over South Carolina.
Despite never having defeated Orlando (0-6 all time), the North division-leading Beast felt confident that they could finally get the best of the team from Central Florida. With both teams dressed in uniforms honoring their NHL affiliates (Toronto for Orlando, Montreal for Brampton), it was the visitors who had the early advantage. The Solar Bears parlayed an aggressive attitude and two early power plays into a 10-0 shot advantage a little over seven minutes into the first period. Unfortunately for them, Brampton goalie Zach Fucale was spot on, turning away every one of those chances.
Fucale’s teammates rewarded him by scoring not one but two goals in a span of two minutes and 19 seconds to take the lead. At the 9:26 mark, the Beast turned a miss by the Solar Bears at one end into a goal when Brandon MacLean set up David Vallorani for his 28th goal of the season. The pair broke into the Orlando defensive end on an odd-man rush with MacLean carrying the puck. He attempted to get the puck to Vallorani but a Solar Bears defender got a piece of the pass, slowing it down but not completely stopping it. The disc continued to Vallorani who wired a shot past Orlando goalie Ryan Massa.
A couple of minutes later, the Beast tacked on a power play tally. Massa made a save on a shot by Brandon Marino but Connor Crisp was able to knock the rebound home for his 12th of the year to give a solid-looking two goal margin.
Brampton was able to withstand a four minute Orlando power play when Luc-Olivier Blain cut Mason Marchment with a high stick late in the frame but they were not able to keep the Solar Bears off the board. With 2:37 left before the intermission, Justin Buzzeo grabbed the puck along the boards near the left point and fired a perfect cross-ice pass to Denver Manderson who beat Fucale with a drive for his 12th tally of the season from just off the crease.
The visitors pulled even 4:37 into the second period with a special teams score of their own. Manderson started the play with a pass to Faille who in turn fed defenseman Brenden Miller for a wrist shot from the slot that found the back of the net. For Miller it was his 14th goal and the assist by Manderson was his 78th career helper with the Solar Bears, moving him past Jake Cepis into first place in the Solar Bears’ ECHL record book.
Not to be outdone, the Beast regained the lead with four minutes left in the stanza. Marino and David Pacan played a little two-man game with Marino going up and over Massa for his 18th of the season.
The Solar Bears confidently came out to start the third period with Faille leading the charge. It took Orlando just 4:47 to get on the board when the big forward drove into the Brampton defensive end, turned a defenseman and cut toward Fucale and the net. As he began to pass in front of the cage, Faille slid the puck into the bottom right corner of the net for his 22nd goal.
Two minutes and 27 seconds later, the Solar Bears took the lead for the first time in the contest. Defenseman Chris Bradley fed the puck to his blueline partner Daniel Maggio who let go with a blast. As the puck neared the net, Joe Perry was able to deflect it past Fucale for his team-leading 32nd score and the eventual game winner.
Now trailing, the Beast ramped up their offense but Massa was equal to the challenge. He was able to hold off Brampton’s high-scoring forwards as time ticked away. Faille put a cap on the evening’s scoring with an empty net tally with 28.6 seconds left.
The two teams will be right back at it Friday night at the Powerade Centre with puck drop set for 7:15 p.m.
Notes: With the three points, Faille reached 62 points to break the team record for points in a season that he set last year (60)… Brampton’s Marino also set a franchise mark as his goal and assist put him at 102 points, breaking the mark of 100 set by Jason Pitton during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 campaigns… Miller’s goal was his 50th career point with Orlando… Massa finished the night with 32 saves to earn the win while Fucale stopped 34 in suffering the loss… Neither team was really effective on the power play with Orlando going 1-for-7 and Brampton finishing at 1-for-4… A number of Solar Bears fans made the trek to Brampton for the series, joining family members of several Orlando players cheering the team on… Prior to the game, the Solar Bears announced that forward Mason Marchment had been reassigned to them by the Toronto Marlies. Additionally, forward Patrick Watling was released. Watling had 13 goals and 36 points in 53 games with the Solar Bears this season.
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