ORLANDO, FLA – The Orlando Solar Bears held its first ever Latin Night at the Amway Center Saturday night, complete with an outdoor festival, in-game music and public address announcements in Spanish and English. The vibe was infectious, even on the ice where Eric Faille put on a show, especially in his post-goal celebrations.
Eric Faille celebrates one of his two goals with a Latin-inspired dance move during Saturday night’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Just do not try to get him to figure out which Latin-inspired dance he prefers because he may not know which one he is doing.
Faille scored twice and added an assist while defenseman Eric Baier picked up three points in his return to the lineup as the Solar Bears (29-20-6-3, 67 points) defeated the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (32-21-4-1, 69 points)5-3 in front of an announced crowd of 7,074. The victory kept Orlando in third place in the ECHL’s South division, ahead of both Cincinnati and South Carolina which both won on Saturday.
The points for Faille and Baier were especially noteworthy in terms on the team’s record books. Faille passed Jake Cepis to become the franchise’s leading points producer with 113 points in 99 games played. Baier’s big night allowed him to pass the 100-point mark as a member of the Solar Bears.
“The first one or the second one? I tried to switch it up,” Faille said when asked whether he was doing a salsa or a merengue. “I went to Cuba a couple of times. I know one is more in the hips.”
The mood during the post-game media session certainly fit how the Solar Bears played and the crowd enjoyed the evening’s festivities. It was a far cry from Thursday night – when Greenville got the best of Orlando – in particular at the defensive end of the ice.
Orlando goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo, playing in his second game with Ryan Massa out injured, was the story through much of the first period as he bounced back from Thursday’s loss in a big way. Unlike the last game when defensive lapses turned into Swamp Rabbits goals, the rookie netminder had his teammates’ backs time and time again in the early going. His glove had took away a golden scoring chance from Ahti Oksanen, who beat him twice in Thursday’s contest, five minutes in and just after the midpoint of the frame he denied a bullet off the stick of Michael Joly, who also netted a pair in the last meeting.
Kaskisuo’s work gave the Solar Bears time to get their offensive bearings and they repaid the netminder with the game’s opening score. It came at the 11:24 mark when rookie blueliner Jon Jutzi made a pretty backhanded pass off the half boards in the Greenville end back to Baier. Baier looked for a shooting lane and nailed a slap shot that beat Swamp Rabbits goalie Jeff Malcolm to the blocker side for his fifth goal of the season.
“It was a great play by my defensive partner Jon Jutzi. He had the puck on the half wall and he made a great seam pass on his backhand. It was a little backhand sauce [saucer] pass right to the middle of the ice,” Baier said about the goal. “We knew we had some space up top [because] throughout the game we were getting some point shots through. I just kind of saw my winger in front of me was a little off and I took a step to my right. I laid into it pretty good. I thankfully picked my head up and saw a lane low blocker [side]. I couldn’t really see his glove side at all so I knew if I could get it there hopefully it gets tipped or something happens and I was fortunate that it went in.”
The celebratory mood lasted all of twenty-five seconds before the Swamp Rabbits responded. Greenville pressed hard, producing some shot opportunities that the Solar Bears snuffed out. On the third attempt, Allan McPherson whacked the puck and it hit the stick of Chris Crane, sending the disc arcing into the air. It landed in the crease and slid across the goal line before Kaskisuo could get to it for McPherson’s fourth goal of the season.
Turnabout was fair game for Malcolm in the Greenville net early in the second when he robbed Alex Gacek on a clean break-in less than four minutes into the middle stanza. Soon after, the Solar Bears went on the power play and made the Swamp Rabbits pay. At the 6:31 mark, defenseman Chris Bradley let loose with a low, hard drive that Malcolm stopped. Joe Perry, who has been one of Orlando’s most consistent scorers all season,was right on the doorstep and swatted the rebound between the goalie’s legs for his team-leading 30th tally of the season.
The Orlando special teams came into play once again a little past the midway point of the frame. Playing with a two-man advantage thanks to overlapping penalties on McPherson and Troy Donnay, Baier teed up a pass to Faille who one-timed the puck into the back of the net for his 19th goal of the season.
The two-goal margin stayed in tact for just one tick shy of 80 seconds before Greenville lit the goal light for the second time. It came off the stick of Brandon Alderson who took a feed from Matt Prapavessis and went top shelf for his 19th of the year to trim the margin to 3-2. Orlando outshot Greenville 22-7 in the period and carried that slim margin into the final period.
Early in the third, Baier and Faille teamed up to give the Solar Bears a little breathing room. The veteran defenseman sent a stretch pass to Faille who turned on the jets and sped into the Swamp Rabbits defensive zone. He cut to the net and as Malcolm moved to follow him, Faille went five hole between the legs for his second score of the game.
Greenville kept battling and drew within 4-3 at the 12:56 mark when McPherson struck again. This time Joly started the sequence by putting a backhand pass to the front of the net. Oksanen made a brilliant play, tapping the puck to an uncovered McPherson who buried it into the back of the net for his fifth of the season.
Orlando’s Austin Block (white) battles for position in front of the Greenville net (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina /Orlando Solar Bears)
A late Greenville power play gave the visitors a chance to even the score but Kaskisuo was ready and waiting to step up. With 1:09 to go and Malcolm pulled for an extra attacker, the puck went back to Joly at the point and he stepped into a shot that was high and hard. Kaskisuo calmly flashed out the glove hand and snared the chunk of vulcanized rubber, taking away what could have been the equalizer.
The Swamp Rabbits continued to press but with 36.2 seconds the Solar Bears put the game out of reach. Brenden Miller started it by getting the puck and sending it up to Faille. Facing a lone defender squared up on him, Faille saw Miller busting across the Greenville blue line and saucered it over to his teammate who hit the empty net for his eleventh goal to complete the scoring.
“I saw Millsy out of the corner of my eye and the guy was in the shooting lane so I didn’t want to take a chance for a turnover,” Faille said. “I let him have the goal. I’m happy for the kid. He works hard.”
With the standings as close as they are and the number of games dwindling, interim head coach John Snowden said that every game here on out is a must win, making Saturday’s victory that much more important.
“I think the rest of the way is a must win. It’s a playoff game for the next fourteen games we have. It’s a playoff game every time,” he said. “The guys understand that. Our division’s tight;Â it’s always going to be tight. That’s the way this division works. there’s a lot of good teams. We’re battling right now and tonight was a good test for us to show us that we’re ready to play in the playoffs when we play like that.”
Notes: Kaskisuo finished the night with 26 saves to earn his 14th win while Malcolm stopped 37 of 42 in taking the loss… Orlando’s special team were outstanding, going 2-for-4 with the man advantage and killing off all four Greenville power play chances… Baier was playing in his first game since February 11th… Forward Shane Conacher was back in the lineup after being reassigned following a stint with the AHL Toronto Marlies… On their current ten-game homestand, the Solar Bears are 5-2-0-1 and finished a stretch of 15 straight games against divisional opponents with a record of 8-5-1-1… Orlando is off until Friday when the Utah Grizzlies come to town for a two-game set.
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