ORLANDO, FLA – When the news filtered out that the Orlando Solar Bears had seen its leading scorer, Aaron Luchuk, leave for Syracuse, New York and a PTO with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, the prevailing thought around the fan base was “not again”. Given the amount of call-ups and PTOs issued by the Solar Bears’ AHL affiliate, the reaction – especially on a game day and with the heartbeat of the offense taking flight – was expected.
But if there is one thing that Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky has taught his players and the fans, it is that the “next man up” has to be ready to deliver.
Monday night at the Amway Center, that plan was in full force as Tristan Langan posted a goal and three assists while rookie Ian Parker bagged his first professional two-goal outing in a 4-1 Orlando victory over the Norfolk Admirals (8-7-0-1) in front of an announced crowd of 3,101. The win gave the Solar Bears (10-6-1-0) three wins in a four-game set against an Admirals team that is quickly becoming a tough South division opponent.
Brad Barone, coming off his second 50-save performance in his last outing on Saturday, turned away 35 of the 36 Norfolk shots he faced. It was Barone’s third consecutive win and allowed the Solar Bears to be the first team in the division to get to ten victories during the 2021-22 regular season.
With Luchuk gone north and several other key offensive players out injured, Parker got plenty of chances to play on special teams. In fact his two-goal night was a total product of non-even strength play. He scored the opening tally of the night 9:48 into the first period while killing a penalty with Langan. Langan did the dirty work, prying the puck away from the far side boards in the neutral zone. He then sent Parker in on a breakaway. Once Parker cleared the defense, he drove to the net and faked Admirals netminder Dylan Wells to the ice before tucking a backhander past the goalie for his fourth goal of the season.
The Solar Bears had an opportunity to extend their lead late in the first when they were handed 1:27 of five-on-three power play time that rolled over into the early stages of the second. Orlando mustered three shots on Wells during the rollover part of that advantage but did not score.
With just under eight minutes left in the middle frame, the Admirals got themselves onto the scoreboard. It came when Alex Tonge crushed a shot on net the Barone stopped. The puck careened off Barone’s leg pads out to the faceoff circle to his right. Standing right there was Blake Murray who had a wide open net to shoot at. Murray easily deposited the puck in the cage for his third of the season and second in two games against Orlando.
Late in the frame, the Admirals were playing with a man advantage when Barone totally stiffed them. The sequence started with a shot by Daniel Brickley that Barone denied. The rebound went to Tonge who saw his attempt stopped by a brilliant right toe save before Barone swept the loose puck away from Tonge and Cody Milan who were crashing the crease to tuck it into the cage. Orlando managed to survive what became a five-on-three power play to keep the score tied at 1-1 after forty minutes.
The Solar Bears hit the gas pedal, scoring three times in the third. The first one came on a power play when Langan drove the net before Wells (31 saves) stopped him. Parker was just outside the crease to control the rebound and tuck it past the goalie for his second of the night and fifth of the season.
A little over three minutes later, another Orlando man advantage turned into the team’s second power play tally. Langan keyed the play with a cross-ice pass to Cole Moberg who teed up a slap shot from the point. Canon Pieper set up a screen but was in the right place to just ever so slightly get a piece of the puck, sending it past Wells for Pieper’s fourth of the year to make it 3-1 at the 5:52 mark.
Langan got his first goal of the season at 15:12 when his shot from the faceoff circle pinballed off a Norfolk defender just as yet another Solar Bears power play ended. It was the final goal of the night as Barone and the Orlando defense held the Admirals to just two shots on net in the closing minutes with both of them being turned away by the very confident Barone.
Notes: Final shots were 36 to 35 in favor of Norfolk… The Admirals went 0-for-7 on the power play while the Solar Bears finished up 2-for-7 with the man advantage… Langan’s short-handed assist was his sixth as a Solar Bear, tying him with former Orlando captain Chris LeBlanc for most career short-handed helpers… Luke McInnis posted two assists in the game, giving him his third multi-point game of the season… Orlando now faces a back-to-back set with Jacksonville. The first game is on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville with the back end coming Thursday night at the Amway Center in Orlando at 7 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews
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