ORLANDO, FLA – When Orlando Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky made the trade with the Wheeling Nailers to get Michael Joly, most observers thought that Joly would be a good fit. A former Kelly Cup Finals Most Valuable Player, Joly had a reputation as being a pure sniper and point producer. Add him in with Aaron Luchuk and Tristin Langan and the Solar Bears had three reliable scorers.
So far, Joly has fit in like a glove.
Joly netted his fifth goal since joining the Orlando roster at the trade deadline for the game winner as the Solar Bears (29-21-4-1) got past the South Carolina Stingrays (23-19–9-3) by a final of 3-2 Monday night at the Amway Center. Joly also had an assist to give him seven points (four goals and three assists) in his last four games. In six total games with Orlando, Joly has posted five goals and three assists.
Luchuk chipped in with a goal and an assist to keep himself within reach of Wichita’s Anthony Beauregard for the points lead in the ECHL. Luchuk’s score, his 23rd of the season, has him one back of Rapid City’s Avery Peterson for most goals this season.
Entering Monday’s contest, Orlando had lost its first two games back at home after a long road trip. The COVID-restricted crowd of 2,250 at the Amway were hoping for a better defensive performance from their favorite team after watching the Stingrays put up 13 goals in the two losses. This night, the effort on defense was there, led by goalie Clint Windsor, who following a tough day on Sunday looked more like the netminder everyone expected.
Windsor was spot on in the first period, helped by his teammates. The blueliners and forwards did their jobs well, allowing just six Stingrays shots to reach the net where Windsor was able to fend them all off.
South Carolina’s netminder, Matt Jurusik, was just as tough. He had to face eleven Solar Bears attempts in the opening twenty minutes and turned aside all but one. The one that got away came at the 18:43 mark when Luchuk was in front of the Stingrays cage and redirected a shot by Joly past Jurusik to give the home team a 1-0 lead at the intermission.
South Carolina pulled even with the Solar Bears 6:17 into the middle frame. Justin Florek made the key play, sending a pass from along the right boards to Andrew Cherniwchan who was positioned in the slot. Cherniwchan was able to get his stick on the puck and knock it by Windsor for his 14th goal of the year and third in two games.
Orlando regained the lead seven minutes and change later when Repaci was in both the wrong and right place at the right time. Fabrizio Ricci got the puck to Mark Auk at the point and he let loose with one of his blueline bombs. The shot struck Repaci and fell at his feet, close enough for Repaci to gain control and bang it home for his fourth tally of the season.
South Carolina responded within the final two minutes of the period to once again knot the score. It came with 1:51 to go before the break when Caleb Herbert got control of a bouncing puck following a shot by Matthew Weis. Herbert got enough of his blade on the disc to jam it into the back of the cage for Herbert’s eighth of the year.
Windsor (24 saves) and Jurusik (29 saves) did their best to keep the tie in tact through the first ten minutes of the final period. Then with 8:56 remaining before a potential overtime period, Luchuk sprung Joly on a partial breakaway. Joly fended off a defender trying to catch him and put a backahnder up and over Jurusik’s catching glove for what proved to be the game winner.
The Solar Bears had an opportunity to put the game out of reach when a pair of overlapping Stingrays penalties have the home team a little over a minute of five-on-three power play time. Orlando failed to score but with the way the playing in front of Windsor, it did not matter. South Carolina was held without a recorded shot on net during the final 6:41 of play and could not get Jurusik out of the net for an extra attacker until there was less than 45 seconds to go.
With the win, the Solar Bears maintained their fourth place position in the Eastern conference with a points percentage of .573. They trail third place Indy (.587) by .014 and lead fifth place Jacksonville (.558) by .015.
Orlando is off until Friday when it begins a big three game weekend set with the second place Greenville Swamp Rabbits at the Amway Center. Greenville’s points percentage is .589, well within the Solar Bears reach. Game time on Friday is set for 7 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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