GREENVILLE, SC – Heading into Friday night’s game at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, the Orlando Solar Bears and Greenville Swamp Rabbits could not have been more separated in their early season fortunes. The visiting Solar Bears were riding a three game winning streak including back-to-back wins against in-state rival Florida. The Swamp Rabbits, on the other hand, were struggling to find consistency and wins.
By the end of the night, the host Rabbits had flipped the script and escaped the ECHL’s South division cellar while Orlando headed to its locker room frustrated.
Led by a two-goal, three point night from Johno May and Chris Izmirlian’s sniper shot with 38 seconds left in overtime, Greenville (3-5-1-0) edged its divisional rival from Central Florida 3-2 in front of an announced crowd of 3,289.
Rookie’s Dylan Fitze and Brent Pedersen lit the goal light for Orlando (4-3-1-0) but even a 44 shot performance by the team was not enough to get a win.
The first period was an up-and-down, fast paced twenty minutes of action with the goaltenders putting on a show. Orlando’s Martin Ouellette was outstanding in the opening stanza, knocking away all 15 Swamp Rabbits shots while Greenville’s Garrett Bartus was equally brilliant, stopping all 14 Solar Bears fired his way during the frame.
The second period started with a bang when a big hit by Orlando defenseman Etienne Boutet led to a confrontation and fight with Greenville’s Trevor Owens. Both players landed some big blows but the advantage went to the Swamp Rabbits when Boutet was tagged with an extra penalty for kneeing.
The short-handed situation almost played right into the hands of the visitors as Solar Bears forward Hunter Fejes got loose for a break-in on Bartus. Fejes made a couple of stick handling moves and went backhand but Bartus denied him with a huge right leg pad save.
A few minutes later, a hit on Orlando’s Brady Shaw along the boards led to a twin bill of fistacuffs. The first bout saw Fejes square off with the Swamp Rabbits Jake Bolton and seconds later, the Solar Bears’ Mike Monfredo and Greenville’s Travis Howe reacquainted themselves in a heavyweight brawl. The secondary fight ended the night for both Monfredo and Howe as they were given game misconducts for continuing an altercation.
The home team opened the scoring at 7:48 of the middle stanza, taking advantage of an Orlando penalty to net a power play goal. Pelech made the key play, sending a pass from below the goal line to May who snapped it home for his sixth goal of the season.
Just over a minute later, the Solar Bears responded. Newcomer Troy Bourke, who had been assigned to Orlando from AHL Syracuse on Wednesday after Mitch Hults was recalled to the Crunch, fed a pass to the front where Pedersen sent it on net. The shot hit the post but Fitze was there to bang home the rebound for his second professional tally.
Orlando took its only lead of the night at the 13:17 mark of the period with just its fourth man advantage score of the season. Pedersen was in the right place to convert the rebound of a shot by Cody Donaghey for his third of the year. Bourke picked up the secondary assist for his second point of the game.
The lead lasted all of sixty-three seconds as a pretty passing play resulted in a Greenville goal. Austen Brassard started the tic-tac-toe sequence, getting the puck to Pelech. Pelech then pulled off a 360-degree spin, setting up May who beat Ouellette for his second of the night and seventh of the season.
After dominating the shot clock by a count of 15-6 in the second, the Solar Bears continued to press for a go-ahead score in the third. With the aid of three power plays, Orlando pounded away at Bartus, putting 13 shots on the Swamp Rabbits netminder and missing connections on a number of additional chances.
The failed opportunities came back to haunt the Solar Bears in the extra period when with less than a minute to go in overtime, May and Izmirlian broke away on a two-on-one break. May attempted to make a pass to his teammate but an Orlando defender got a piece of the puck. It still managed to find its was to Izmirlian who knocked down the flying disc and fired a backhander over Ouellette’s right shoulder into the top corner for his fifth of the year and the game winner.
Bartus finished the night with 42 saves to earn his third win of the season while Ouellette stopped 27 in suffering the hard luck loss.
The two teams will complete their weekend set Saturday night with puck drop at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena set for 7 p.m.
Notes: Orlando finished the night 1-for-7 on the power play while Greenville went 1-for-5… Fejes’ seven game point streak came to a screeching halt but both Pedersen (four games) and Fitze (two games) saw their personal streaks continue… The game marked the Solar Bear debuts of defensemen Curt Gogol and Myles McGurty. Gogol, who was signed by Orlando earlier in the week after returning from Norway, posted an even rating, one shot on net and a two minute penalty while defending a teammate. McGurty, who was signed late in training camp and seeing game action for the first time, had two shots on net and was a minus-1… Greenville (195 minutes) and Orlando (190 minutes) lead the South division and the Eastern conference in penalty minutes. Allen leads the league with 201 penalty minutes through nine games.
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