NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – There are nights when a team seems to be charmed, seeing every bounce and every break go its way. Then there are nights when that team cannot seem to catch a break, when the goalie at the other end plays like an NHL star or the bounces seem to go in the other direction.
For the visiting Orlando Solar Bears, Friday night was one of those games that fell into the latter category.
Led by two goals and an assist from Tad Kozun and 38 saves from Angus Redmond, the host South Carolina Stingrays (21-16-2-0) posted a 4-1 victory over the Solar Bears (19-16-3-0) in front of an announced crowd of 2,622 at the North Charleston Coliseum. Colby McAuley scored late in the third period to help Orlando avoid being blanked.
Playing on the road after a week’s rest at home, the Solar Bears found themselves on the short end of a furious opening salvo by the home team. Handed two early power play opportunities, the Stingrays pounded shot after shot on Orlando goalie Corbin Boes to the tune of a 7-0 shot advantage. Before the first period was half over, the visitors got two man advantage chances and turned the shot clock around with a flurry of chances that Redmond turned away.
It looked like the opening frame would go by scoreless until a mistake cost the Solar Bears dearly. With about two minutes remaining before the intermission, a turnover in the Orlando defensive end ended up with the Stingrays’ Cam Askew controlling the puck below the goal line. He saw teammate Vinny Muto driving down the slot and fired a perfect that the defenseman drove at the net. Before it got to Boes, Kozun redirected the disc into the back of the net for his ninth goal of the season.
Kozun and the Stingrays extended their lead 3:14 into the second when an odd-man rush became an opportunity. Askew got the puck to Kozun on the two-on-one break and with plenty of space, Kozun beat Boes with a hard wrist shot to the blocker side of the goalie for his second of the game and tenth of the year.
The margin for South Carolina grew to three a little under four minutes later when another Orlando turnover, this time in the neutral zone, turned into a breakaway for Matt Pohlkamp when Kevin McKernan made a perfect stretch pass. Driving straight down the slot, Pohlkamp waited before firing a shot low to Boes’ glove side for his twelfth goal of the year.
Pohlkamp’s tally ended the night for Boes as Solar Bears head coach and general manager Drake Berehowsky sent in newly signed netminder Clint Windsor to take over. The rookie skated in and looked calm, stopping all six shots over the remaining twelve minutes of the middle frame to keep the Solar Bears within reach.
Orlando had a golden opportunity late in the period when leading goal scorer Mathieu Foget got loose for a clean breakaway. He swiftly skated in but at the point that he was set to fire on Redmond, the puck caught an edge and sailed wide of the cage. Foget stayed with it and quickly tried a wraparound that the Stingrays netminder turned away.
Comfortably in front by three as the final frame started, South Carolina went into shutdown mode, giving Redmond a lot of help at the defensive end of the ice. The Langley, British Columbia native kept turning away shot after shot until the Solar Bears finally broke through with just over three minutes remaining when a Stingrays defensive zone turnover ended up on the stick of McAuley who ripped a shot from the high slot that beat Redmond for his fifth of the year.
Berehowsky pulled Windsor (13 saves on 13 shots faced) with just under three minutes remaining, giving the Solar Bears a man advantage on the ice. Askew took advantage of the empty net to score his eleventh with 1:57 to go after Orlando defenseman Cody Donaghey turned back pucks heading at the net on two occasions.
The Solar Bears continued to press looking to inch closer and thought they had when Kevin Lohan put the puck into the back of the net. Unfortunately, the visitors bad luck continued to the end as the goal was waived off as the referee called Tayler Thompson for interfering with Redmond on the play.
The teams will continue their three-game set Saturday night in North Charleston with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
Notes: Final shots favored Orlando 39-28… Neither team scored on the power play as the Solar Bears finished 0-for-4 with the man advantage while the Stingrays went 0-for-3… In roster news, the Solar Bears announced on Wednesday that forward Ryan Lough had retired to take a job outside of hockey… Goalie Charlie Millen sat out for Orlando, allowing Windsor to take over the backup role… The win by the Stingrays improved their record in the season series to 5-3-0-0. The teams will meet three more times before the end of the regular season, all of them in North Charleston.
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