NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – For most of the 2018-19 ECHL season, the Orlando Solar Bears have preached a mantra of team first. Yes, the squad has stars who shine on a regular basis but when they do not, someone else needs to step up and drive the bus in order to come away with a win.
Friday night at the North Charleston Coliseum, Chris LeBlanc grabbed the wheel and now the Solar Bears are one win away from a second straight playoff series victory over the South Carolina Stingrays.
LeBlanc scored two goals as part of a three-goal blitz in the second period to lead Orlando to a 4-1 win over the host Stingrays in front of an announced crowd of 3,123. Tayler Thompson and Colby McAuley each added a goal and goalie Connor Ingram stopped 26 of 27 shots to give the Solar Bears a 3-to-1 lead in the best-of-seven South Division semifinal series. Orlando can close out the series Saturday night when Game 5 is played in North Charleston.
After playing more than 93 minutes of game time in Wednesday’s epic double overtime game won by Orlando, neither team came out with a whole lot of oomph. The first period started very slowly as both sides appeared to be trying to find their skating legs after having Thursday off for obvious reasons. The initial eleven minutes of the first period yielded a combined seven shots (4-3 Orlando).
The Solar Bears were the first to get into a groove, finding some offense in the later stages of the opening frame. They tested South Carolina netminder Parker Milner on a couple of occasions, the most memorable being a two-save combo when Milner turned away Orlando’s Dylan Fitze and Troy Bourke within the space of a few seconds, on the way to a 12-5 shot advantage but the period ended scoreless.
Feeling like it had gained control of the contest despite not denting the scoreboard in the first, Orlando did not take that long to open the scoring in the second. It came 2:45 into the middle frame when the Solar Bears used their team concept perfectly. After Fitze and defenseman Kevin Lohan did some work early in the sequence, Mitch Hults picked off a clearing attempt by the Stingrays and laid a drop pass to Thompson who found the back of the net for his second goal of the series. It was also Thompson’s second tally that broke a scoreless tie in the second period of the series.
Just shy of three and a half minutes later, Le Blanc got into the act for the first time. He was in the right place to corral the rebound of a shot by Bourke and fired it high into the open side of the cage for his first tally of the post-season.
A couple of minutes later, the visitors nearly had themselves a third score. Hunter Fejes, the star of Wednesday’s battle, got loose and broke in alone on Milner but the goalie won the one-on-one meeting with a stick save.
The stop by the Stingrays netminder was only a temporary blip in the offensive run for the Solar Bears. With eight minutes remaining in the stanza, LeBlanc and Jonne Tammela broke out for a two-on-one rush into the South Carolina end. The pair moved the puck back and forth a couple of times before Tammela waited for the right moment and hit LeBlanc on the back door for a tap in goal, his second of the night and the series, and a commanding 3-0 lead.
Things got testy with five minutes to go before the second intermission when Fitze drove to the South Carolina net and ended up meeting an elbow from Stingrays star Andrew Cherniwchan. Hults and Stingrays veteran forward Josh Gratton exchanged some words and shoves after Hults confronted Cherniwchan and all three ended up in the penalty box for their trouble.
While all this was going on, Ingram was spinning himself another stellar outing between the pipes. His teammates had plenty to do with the netminder’s success as they were playing tight defense, none any better than when Cherniwchan exited the box to create an odd-man counretattack. McAuley dug in and backchecked on the play, disrupting the foray just enough to allow Defenseman Matthew Spencer to get in and block a shot attempt to snuff out the push.
Holding the lead and playing with extreme confidence, the Solar Bears entered the final frame with the knowledge that South Carolina would pull out all the stops to get back into the contest. Ingram reprised his starring role from Wednesday during a four-on-four situation and subsequent short Stingrays power play early in the period, denying Kevin McKernan and Ryker Killins who both had golden opportunities to break the ice. Later, Ingram went sprawling to take a goal away from Jordan Samuels-Thomas to keep his shutout bid alive.
The Stingrays did eventually find a way to beat the Orlando goalie. Seconds after the midpoint of the period, a failed clearing attempt ended up in the hands of the home team. After Ingram stopped a shot by Mason Mitchell, McKernan grabbed the rebound and fed Jonathan Charbonneau who netted his second goal in as many games to trim the margin to 3-1.
As time wound down, McAuley put a bow on the Solar Bears third straight win in the series. With less than three minutes remaining in regulation, Orlando dumped the puck into the South Carolina end. Brent Pedersen went hard on the forecheck, hitting a Stingrays defender along the boards. The hit sent the puck careening out to McAuley who stuffed it home for his first playoff goal and a well earned victory for the team from Central Florida.
The win puts the Solar Bears in a position to take the series with a victory Saturday night, which would give them a four game sweep after losing game one at home. Orlando will carry a perfect 4-0 record at the North Charleston Coliseum over the span of two playoff seasons into Game 5, adding to a 3-2 mark during the regular season in North Charleston.
Notes: Final shots were 31-27 in favor of Orlando… Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play in the contest… Hults’ assist extended his point streak to three games (3 goals, 1 assist)… Bourke pushed his personal point streak to three games (3 assists) as well as leading the Solar Bears with seven recorded shots on net… Pedersen’s helper on McAuley’s goal gave him a two game point steak (1 goal, 1 assist)… Lohan and Akexander Kuqali each posted a plus-4 rating, equaling the franchise mark for a single game that was established by Fejes back on May 4, 2018 against Florida… Saturday’s Game 5 is scheduled to drop the puck at 7:05 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.