ORLANDO, FLA – With frustrations at a high following two agonizing losses to the Florida Everblades, the Orlando Solar Bears badly needed some veteran leadership to step up to topple the number one team in the Eastern conference of the ECHL. Add in that Saturday night was Orlando’s “Hockey Fights Cancer” night and the pressure to grab a victory was that much higher.
Thanks to captain Chris LeBlanc and Tristin Langan, the Solar Bears finally managed to find a way to end their four-game losing streak and send Florida home with a loss.
LeBlanc and Langan scored goals in the third period to lift Orlando (21-17-3-1) to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Everblades (31-11-0-2) in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 3,092 at the Amway Center. Fabrizio Ricci and Aaron Luchuk both scored in the second period as the Solar Bears found themselves tied at two heading to the decisive final frame where goalie Clint Windsor stopped all ten Florida shots to pick up the much needed win.
Playing for the third time in three days (and for the 21st time this season), there were two big questions that fans wanted answered: would there be bad blood between the two rivals and how much energy would the teams have. The opening stanza saw a total of 24 shots on net between the two squads (13-11 in favor of Orlando). There were some good scoring chances like when the Solar Bears Anthony Repaci got loose for a try on Everblades netminder Jake Hildebrand only to hit the post early on and later when Orlando defenseman had a short handed breakaway only to be stopped by Hildebrand. Both Windsor and Hildebrand pitched shutouts in the first twenty minutes.
A late period Solar Bears penalty carried over into the middle frame and Florida used it to good advantage. Seventy-five seconds in, Joe Pendenza sent a pass back to the center of the blueline where Colby Sissions accepted it. Using several players in front as a screen, Sissions fired and beat Windsor for his fifth of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Six minutes later, the Solar Bears pulled even. Jerry D’Amigo started the sequence with an indirect pass that found Repaci at center ice. Repaci sped off with Ricci on a two-on-one break and took a shot that snuck through Hildebrand and dropped in the crease. Ricci continued his path toward the net and tapped the puck home for his first goal as a member of the Orlando roster.
The home team took the lead on a power play of its own later in the period. The Solar Bears worked the puck around the Florida defensive zone with Repaci eventually getting it to Nolan Valleau at the point. Valleau’s drive hit a body in front and bounced to Luchuk who whipped it high over Hildebrand’s glove hand for his 13th of the season.
The Orlando lead lasted a little over two minutes. Leading a counter-offensive, John McCarron carried the puck into the Solar Bears end on a two-on-two rush. He found a passing lane and fed Levko Koper who squeezed a shot past Windsor for his 13th of the season to send the contest to the final period knotted at 2-2.
The scoreboard stayed even until past the midpoint when the Solar Bears leaders stepped up. First at the 11:48 mark, Langan led a counterattack at the Everblades with LeBlanc as a trailer. Once he got inside the top of the faceoff circles, Langan dropped a pass to LeBlanc, whose first triggering was blocked. He stayed with the play, retrieved the puck and beat Hildebrand with a snap shot against the grain of his body motion for his seventh of the year.
That was all that Windsor would need as he was in top form, turning away everything the Everblades threw his way. Langan sealed the win when he took a feed from LeBlanc at center ice, skated in on the empty Florida net and slid the puck home for his 14th to cap the scoring.
Windsor made 26 saves on 28 shots to puck up the victory while Hildebrand turned away 43 of 46 shots in defeat.
Orlando is off until Tuesday when the Greenville Swamp Rabbits head south to visit the Amway Center for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Notes: Final shots were 47-28 in favor of Orlando, the 47 representing a season high. The Solar Bears had 24 of those shots in the second period… Both teams went 1-for-4 on the power play… LeBlanc’s two points gave him113 for his career with Orlando, pushing him past Eric Baier (111 points) and Jake Cepis (112 points) into a tie with Denver Manderson for second place on the all-time ECHL franchise list. His game-winning goal was his sixth career winner, tying him with Manderson and T.J. Foster for fourth in team history… The victory moved the Solar Bears record this season against the Everblades to 7-11-2-1.
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