ORLANDO, FLA – Coaches will in general tell their teams that if they want to be the best, they need to beat the best. So it was Friday night at the Amway Center when the ECHL North division’s leading team, the Fort Wayne Komets, came calling on the Orlando Solar Bears for the first of a two game weekend set. Unfortunately for the home team, the game turned into a Friday the 13th nightmare.
Marshall Everson scored the lone Solar Bears goal in Friday’s loss (Photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing/Orlando Solar Bears)
Led by Shawn Szydlowski’s goal and assist on offense and the hot goaltending of Roman Will, the Komets came away with a 3-1 victory in front of a Comic Book/Superhero Night announced crowd of 6,735. The loss put a stop to Orlando’s modest two-game win streak while giving Fort Wayne its second victory over the Solar Bears this season.
“I thought we started off a little slow but then we picked up a little bit more especially in the third period. Their goaltender played outstanding tonight,” Orlando head coach Vince Williams said. “I think it was a difference of capitalizing on opportunities. They capitalized on theirs and we didn’t capitalize on ours.”
The game itself had several sub plots beyond just being a battle between conference foes. First, the game marked the return of goalie Maxime Clermont who was assigned to Orlando (24-17-3-0, 51 points) by New Jersey. The second was the return of Komets forward CJ Severyn, who had been a fan favorite during his time playing in Orlando but did not resign with the team in the off season. Thirdly, the Solar Bears added rugged forward Mike Sgroi to the lineup in the hours before the game in anticipation of a potentially rugged contest with a very physical Fort Wayne squad. Lastly, the Solar Bears roster was missing both Jake Cepis (upper body injury) and Blake Kessel who Williams said “just did not play”.
With a rugged schedule over the next week, Williams started Clermont in net to give Garret Sparks a night off. Clermont carried a 4-0 record and sterling stats while with the AHL Albany Devils with him so fans were anticipating seeing how he looked.
There was not much to choose between in the opening minutes of the first period although Orlando did come out aggressively. Fort Wayne (32-12-1-2, 67 points) seemed willing to survive the early push and let Will do his thing while the Komets offense looked for an opening.
The opening came at the 11:21 mark of the frame. Szydlowski took the puck in his own end and quickly moved it down the ice into the Orlando end with little resistance. When he got into the faceoff circle to Clermont’s left, Szydlowski cut toward the slot and using a defenseman as a partial screen fired a quick backhander that zipped past the Solar Bears netminder’s stick side shoulder.
Just over three minutes later, the Komets doubled their lead. Once again Szydlowski had the puck on his blade but this time he was looking to make a pass. He was able to find Severyn cruising down the slot and put the puck on his teammate’s tape. Severyn drove to the net but when he went to make a move to his left, the puck rolled off his stick. Clermont, already committed to following Severyn’s initial move, watched in horror as the puck slid right between his legs and into the net.
Will, who took a 5-6-0-2 record into the game, continued to frustrate the Solar Bears at every turn. His mastery carried through the end of the first and into the second when his teammates picked up some scoreboard insurance.
Six and a half minutes into the middle frame, an Orlando defensive breakdown led to Dylan Quaile walking down the slot unmolested with the puck. Clermont did what he was supposed to do, staying with the puck carrier and shifting to his left. Problem was that no one picked up Brett Perlini who set up right in front of the net. Quaile sent the puck to Perlini who easily slid it into the wide open net to make it 3-0 on just eleven shots on net.
Clermont, who went on to post 24 saves, settled down from there and played well enough to give the Solar Bears a chance to make a comeback. The only problem was that Will was completely focused and stopping everything in sight. Whether it was holding tight to the post or facing point blank shots, the Komets netminder was playing a perfect game.
Early in the third, Orlando’s Brady Vail was fouled on a break in and given a penalty shot. Will shut down Vail’s attempt to score with a shot between the legs to preserve the shutout. The harder the Solar Bears pushed, the better Will seemed to get. Orlando was finally able to bust up the shutout in the final minute when Carson McMillan set up Marshall Everson who beat Will for his tenth goal of the season but it was too little too late to change the outcome.
“We had 45 shots [so] there’s not much more we could do there. Our finishing maybe wasn’t there tonight,” Solar Bears captain Stefan Della Rovere said. “When you score one goal on 45 shots, you’re going to lose the game. Their goalie played a real good game and they capitalized on their chances.”
The two teams will return to the Amway Center ice for a rematch Saturday night at 7 pm.
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