ORLANDO, FLA – For most of the first twenty minutes of Sunday afternoon’s game between the Orlando Solar Bears and the Atlanta Gladiators, Solar Bears goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo thought he was going to be just an interested spectator as he was the backup netminder to Ryan Massa. By the time the game ended, Kaskisuo was the number one star and had earned two very important points in the standings for his team.
Orlando Kasimir Kaskisuo celebrates as the Solar Bears defeated Atlanta Sunday afternoon (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Kaskisuo made 26 saves over the final 45 minutes of play and foiled two shots in the shootout as the Solar Bears (28-19-6-3, 65 points) slayed the Gladiators (21-25-6-2, 50 points) 3-2 in front of an announced crowd of 5,069 at the Amway Center. Austin Block and Alex Gacek had the two key goals in the skills competition that decided the contest.
Still, the game came down to Kaskisuo – who had played on Friday night and made 37 saves in a tough loss – coming in when his team needed him and giving a performance worthy of being named the best player in the game.
“It was a huge win. We needed those two points a lot so that was a big win for us,” Kaskisuo said. “At this time of the year, every point counts and we’re in a playoff race so I’m real excited about the win.”
For the third straight game, the Solar Bears were able to get on the scoreboard first. Just 2:33 into the first period, Darik Angeli and Chris Crane mounted a rush into the Atlanta end. Crane played the part of the trailer and was in the perfect spot to take a back feed from Angeli and ripped a shot from the top of the circle to the left of Gladiators goalie Matt Ginn into the top corner for his 15th goal of the season, 12 of them coming in an Orlando uniform.
The way Massa – who had shut out Atlanta on Wednesday – was playing in the opening frame, Crane’s tally looked like it might stand up. The second year pro was on his game again, stopping everything in sight including a point blank chance by Alex Guptill on a partial break in. In fact, the only shot that Massa did not stop was a drive by Justin Buzzeo during a power play that clanged off the crossbar and bounced away.
Everything changed when late in the period when Eric Faille got tangled up with Gladiators forward (and former Solar Bear) Connor Gaarder. Gaarder went down and slid hard into Massa, causing the goalie to stay down for a bit before getting up and staying in the game. He finished the period with 14 saves and held the lead at 1-0 at the break.
When the teams came out for the second, Kaskisuo led Orlando out on the ice and Massa was not on the bench. Kaskisuo said that even though he was supposed to have the night off, it is part of the job to be ready at all times to come in and play at a high level.
“This is our job and we get paid for it so we’ve got to be ready when called,” the rookie netminder said. “That’s my only job when I’m sitting on the bench, to be ready when needed. I felt like it was a little easier to jump in after the intermission – kind of get ready and do my own thing during the break – [and then] get a couple of good shots in right away and you feel normal right away.”
Kaskisuo had to feel good when his teammates doubled the lead at the eleven minute mark of the stanza. It came during a power play when Chris Bradley sent a cross-ice pass to Patrick Watling who was just inside the top of the faceoff circle to Ginn’s left. Watling wasted no time, winding up for a one-time bomb that went off the inside of the goalie’s leg and into the net for his 11th of the year.
“The power play was really working. We were reading well off each other.We were going as one,” Watling said about the play that led to his score. “Faillesy [Faille] put it up to the top, it came back down to me and I just one-timed it home.”
It appeared as if Orlando would carry the two-goal lead to the second intermission but the Gladiators had other ideas. With 32.7 seconds remaining before the break, Buzzeo sent the puck out to the bottom of the circle to Kaskisuo’s left where Derek Nesbitt was waiting. Nesbitt collected the pass and fired it past the goalie’s stick side for his 20th of the season and second in as many games to make it 2-1.
The netminders were the story for much of the final frame. Ginn stood on his head – in particular during an Orlando power play with eight minutes remaining – to give his teammates a chance. At the other end, Kaskisuo was piling up the saves as Atlanta desperately searched for the tying score.
With exactly two minutes left in regulation, Solar Bears defenseman Ben Danford was nabbed for tripping, giving the Gladiators a power play. as the clock ticked down to 1:13 remaining, Buzzeo took a feed at the top of the circle to Kaskisuo’s right and with a sea of bodies in the goalie’s line of sight, nailed a slap shot that found the back of the net for his 17th of the year and a 2-2 score.
The three-on-three overtime was at times chaotic and at the same time thrilling. Watling had an incredible chance to end the game when he took a pass in the slot. He went for a one-time attempt that Ginn anticipated and made the save on.
“He’s a good goalie. We’ve had our battles along the line throughout the whole year,” Watling said about Ginn. “We were working really well in the overtime, weaving around and getting in each other way doing picks but he knew I was going there so he stonewalled me.”
Seconds later, Kaskisuo faced down a two-on-none break by the Gladiators that ended in a shot by former Solar Bear Shane Bakker that the goalie turned away.
In the shootout, Block stated things by using a slow pace that turned into a quick shot to the top corner on Ginn’s glove side. After Guptill was stopped by Kaskisuo on Atlanta’s first shot, Gacek took the puck and swung wide left before cutting into the slot and going to the exact same spot as Block did for Orlando’s second score. It came down to Nesbitt who needed to score to keep things going but as he went to make a stick-handling move in tight, the puck bounced off his blade and away, giving the host team the win.
Interim Orlando head coach John Snowden said that the victory could go a long way toward the team’s mentality as the push for the playoffs continues.
“I thought we battled hard all night long. It was one of those games. It was a playoff game – that’s what it was,” Snowden said. “I think you could feel it in the building, the energy there. We battled through it for sixty minutes [and] found a way to come out with a win. It’s a good step for us. It’s a battle-tested game, especially moving down the stretch here during the season. You’ve got to face those adversities if you want to win in the playoffs.”
Notes: Orlando went 1-for-5 on the power play while Atlanta finished 1-for-6… The Solar Bears are now 4-1-0-1 through six games of their ten-game homestand… With two games remaining on its 15-game run against divisional opponents, Orlando is 7-4-1-1… In suffering the loss, Ginn finished with 42 saves… Orlando is off until Thursday when Greenville comes to the City Beautiful for the first of two contests that will close out the season series. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
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