INDIANAPOLIS, IN – When Saturday night’s game between the Orlando Solar Bears and Indy Fuel was stopped due to ice issues, the question was would the contest be finished or would it be cancelled like three other ECHL games recently were. Judging by the end result, the Solar Bears had to be happy that the ice was fixed.
Tristin Langan scored a pair of goals and added an assist while Michael Joly and Aaron Luchuk continued to pound the stat sheet as Orlando (28-19-4-1) avenged a bad loss on Sunday to defeat the Fuel (28-19-4-0) 5-1 in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 1,928 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Monday night. In all, eleven Solar Bears registered at least a point in support of starting goalie Kris Oldham who was perfect on Saturday before the suspension of play and Michael Lackey who turned back 17 of 18 in Monday’s resumption.
Orlando staked itself to a 2-0 lead in the first 7:04 of play in the section of the first period that was played on Saturday. The first goal came off the stick of newcomer Michael Joly who has started off with points in two of his first three game with Orlando. An Indy turnover at the Solar Bears defensive blueline put the puck on the stick of Solar Bears defenseman Alex Kuqali. He quickly fed it forward to Kyle Topping who in turn sprang Joly on a breakaway. Joly sped in and went five-hole on Fuel netminder Tom Aubrun for his 10th goal of the year and second with his new team.
Just shy of five minutes later at 7:04, the visitors increased their lead. Putting a press on the Indy defense, Luke McInnis made a pass to Mark Auk who skated into the far side faceoff circle. His move opened a gaping passing lane to the back side of the play where Langan fired it into the open side of the net for his 19th of the season.
The teams managed to get to the 14:56 mark of the opening frame before the ice surface took center stage and forced the suspension of play. When the game resumed on Monday, the final 5:04 went by quickly with not much significant happening so the 2-0 Orlando lead held into the intermission.
The second period started with a bang when Orlando defenseman and Indy forward Keoni Texeira dropped the gloves and slugged it out. Texeira received an extra minor penalty and when an second Fuel player went to the penalty box, the Solar Bears found themselves with 1:39 of 5-on-3 power play time. The visitors kept play in the Indy end for much of the time and put four shots on net but Fuel netminder Dan Bakala turned them all away.
A third infraction on the Fuel at the 8:59 mark of the middle frame created more momentum and eventually a power play goal for the Solar Bears. Joly worked the puck to Langan on the near side. Much like his tally, a passing lane opened up and Langan went cross-ice to Luchuk. Luchuk had enough time to collect the hard pass and from the far circle whipped the puck into the back of the net for his team-leading 21st goal of the season.
Later in the stanza, the lead grew to 4-0 with a goal by Fabrizio Ricci which just missed being a man-advantage score by two seconds. A hard, low shot from the point by Karlis Cukste found the stick of Ricci who was standing in front of Bakala. The deflection was perfect and Ricci had his second goal of the season.
Most of the third period felt like the teams were playing out the string. There were shots a plenty (Orlando had 9, Indy 11) but Lackey and Bakala were being stubborn and not letting anything by them. Lackey lost the shutout with 1:25 to go in regulation when a blast by Eric Williams was redirected wide. Michael Pelech was first on the puck behind the net and fed it above the goal line to Alex Rauter who netted his seventh of the season to cut the margin to 4-1.
With only the final score in doubt, the Solar Bears answered Rauter’s tally when Langan banked the rebound off the end boards from a shot by Nolan Valleau home for his second of the night and 21st of the season (his 20th came on Sunday) to close the scoresheet.
The Solar Bears will head home on Tuesday before heading up to Jacksonville to end their nine-game road trip with a Wednesday night tilt against the Icemen at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Notes: Final shots were 32-26 in favor of Orlando…The Solar Bears went 2-for-6 on the power play while Indy went 0-for-3… Milestones were bountiful for Orlando Monday night. Joly’s assist on Luchuk’s goal was his 200th career professional point, Valleau collected his 100th pro point (he has 14 goals and 40 assists in 80 games played for Orlando) and Kuqali played in his 100th career game with the Solar Bears… Kuqali is one of three players on the Orlando roster who have played in every game this season (Langan and Luchuk are the other two). Kuqali has not missed a game dating back to January 29, 2020 – an ironman streak of 73 games.
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