ESTERO, FLA – Rebounds. Turnovers. Uncovered players. All three are key components to either success or failure in hockey. Isolated, each item may not be dangerous but put them together and the team that allows them to happen more than likely will lose while the squad that capitalizes on them generally wins.
Wednesday night at Germain Arena, the Orlando Solar Bears allowed too many of each category while the Florida Everblades took full advantage of what they were given. In the end, the host Everblades completed a dramatic comeback with a 7-4 victory over the Solar Bears in game seven of their South division semifinal series. Florida will now move on to take on the South Carolina Stingrays in the divisional final starting Friday night.
Brendan O’Donnell and Stephen MacAulay each scored two goals and twelve different players recorded at least one point for the Everblades, who erased a 3-to-1 deficit to win the best-of-seven series. Four different players scored a goal for Orlando, which now will have all summer to think about a franchise-defining series win over its in-state rival that got away.
Once again faced with starting rookie Mitch Gillam in net because of an injury to starting goalie Ryan Massa that occurred in a line brawl at the end of game four, the Solar Bears found themselves caught in between playing a go-for-broke style or using a more defensive plan to help out their young netminder.
Gillam, who had played well at times despite losses in games five and six, was nothing short of brilliant in the first fourteen minutes of the first period. He was under intense pressure from the outset, robbing John McCarron to make up for a bad Solar Bears line change as part of a stretch of 13 consecutive saves to open the game.
A penalty to Orlando defenseman Taylor Doherty became the rookie netminder’s undoing at the 14:29 mark of the frame when the Everblades opened the scoring. Florida’s power play unit smartly worked the puck around the Orlando defensive zone until blueliner Zack Kamrass found a seam and fired a dart that O’Donnell redirected into the back of the net for his sixth goal of the series.
The Solar Bears responded quickly to tie the score. Just 21 seconds after the O’Donnell tally, Denver Manderson got the puck behind the Florida net and slipped a pass to Milos Bubela who fired it past Everblades goalie Anthony Peters for his second goal in as many nights.
Florida would have the last laugh in the frame when an error by the Solar Bears defense became fatal. Defensemen Doherty and Chris Bradley failed to control the puck in front of their net, allowing O’Donnell to grab it and feed MacAulay who drilled a shot past the stick side of Gillam for his first goal and a 2-1 Everblades lead after one.
The Solar Bears were still in good shape as the second period began but things quickly got away from them. Only 1:18 had elapsed when Brant Harris got between the Orlando defense and Gillam, took control of a loose puck and put a shot off the left post and in for his third goal of the series. Five minutes and change later, Dalton Smith got loose and swept the rebound of a Mike Ferrantino shot into the net for his second of the playoffs and commanding 4-1 lead.
While his teammates were providing the offense, Peters was once again stifling the Solar Bears offense. Every shot Orlando put on net, Peters was there to turn it away. He made eleven saves in all during the middle stanza to send his team to the final frame with the lead.
Relegated to almost garbage time status for the second straight night, the third period became a wild west shootout as the teams matched the other goal for goal. It started 28 seconds in when at the tail end of a carryover power play, Matt Berry was the recipient of a crazy bounce off the stick of McCarron that he whacked into the open back side of the net for his fifth of the series to make it 5-1.
Orlando dug its heels in and tried to mount a comeback. At the 1:54 mark, Chris Crane found the puck in front of Peters and slid a shot between the netminder’s legs for his second goal of the post-season. That score was answered back exactly three minutes later when on an odd-man rush, Matt Hatch put the puck on a tee for MacAulay who buried it for his second of the night.
MacAulay’s score ended the night for Orlando’s Gillam as head coach Drake Berehowsky replaced him with rookie Kris Joyce. O’Donnell beat the Solar Bears backup netminder at the 15:42 mark when another odd-man dash left the sniper with room in the slot to unleash a wicked wrist shot that went top corner over Joyce’s left shoulder to make it 7-2.
Orlando would add two more goals in the closing minutes as Doherty converted a rebound off a shot by Bradley on a power play and Manderson took a feed from Eric Faille and netted his fifth of the series but it was not nearly enough to alter the final outcome of the contest.
In earning his fourth win of the series, Peters stopped 23 of 27 shots while Gillam made 26 saves on 32 shots in nearly 45 minutes of playing time as he suffered his third straight loss.
Florida now will face South Carolina in the South divisional final starting Friday night at Germain Arena. Meanwhile, Orlando can take solace in the fact that it took the best team in the Eastern conference – and a squad that dominated it during the regular season – to the brink before the hockey gods turned on it.
Notes: Orlando finished the game 1-for-5 on the power play in game seven and 2-for-9 in games five through seven. Florida converted on two of three of its man advantage opportunities in the clinching game… The contest was the first ever game seven for the ECHL Solar Bears while the Everblades were participating in the franchise’s third ever seventh game… The game marked the 40th game seven in ECHL history… Orlando’s Crane finished the first round tied for second place in assists (7) with eight other players… With his two goals, Florida’s O’Donnell now leads the league in goals scored during the post-season with seven… Doherty led all defensemen in the series with four goals and seven points… The team that scored first won all seven games in the series.
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