ORLANDO, FLA – When the Orlando Solar Bears blanked the Florida Everblades on Friday night, it marked the third time this season that the Solar Bears had taken down their in-state rival in regulation time. Given the fact that Florida had lost only six times in sixty minutes of play, Orlando’s success was remarkable. The problem for the guys from Central Florida had failed the first two times to extend their winning streak against the Everblades to two games.
Whether it was the power of the Hulk on Marvel Superheroes night or some form of the law of averages, Saturday night saw Orlando change its luck.
Led by a two-goal, three-point night from Aaron Luchuk and 37 saves from rookie goalie Michael Lackey, the host Solar Bears (15-10-3-0) finally found a way to beat Florida in two straight contests, coming away with a 5-2 win over the visiting Everblades (21-7-0-2). The win, coming in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 2,250 at the Amway Center in Orlando, proved that the Solar Bears could put together back-to-back successful efforts against the one team that has haunted them for years.
The victory was also another confidence booster for Lackey, who has become a solid backup to starter Clint Windsor, giving the Solar Bears a formidable netminding tandem. Lackey’s win was his fifth of the season and gave him a 3-0-2 record over his last five starts.
Things did not get off to a good start for Lackey. Just 2:09 into the opening frame, Florida’s Joe Pendenza exploited some loose Solar Bears loose defense to score his eighth goal of the season. Pendenza picked up the loose puck at center ice and was allowed to skate unchallenged into the Orlando defensive zone before whistling a shot past Lackey low to his glove side.
The Solar Bears responded with a special teams score a little past the mid point of the period. On a power play, captain Chris LeBlanc won a faceoff back to Mark Auk at the top of the faceoff circle to Florida goalie Jake Hildebrand’s left. Auk was quickly rushed but got a pass off to Luchuk who was standing in the circle. When Luchuk received the disc, he looked once and ripped a shot that zipped into the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season.
Tied at 1-1 as the middle frame began, the Solar Bears took control of the contest within the first six minutes. At the 3:32 mark, Zack Andrusiak sent a perfect stretch pass to Luchuk who had gotten behind the Everblades defense. He cruised in alone and went stick side with a shot that nestled into the twine for his second of the game and eighth of the year.
A couple of minutes later, Luchuk played the role of facilitator to set up Tristin Langan for Orlando’s third score. After taking a pass in the neutral zone from Luchuk, Langan sped into the Florida end. He was able to shake a defender off and went top corner to Hildebrand’s right side for his sixth and a 3-1 lead that the Solar Bears took to the final twenty minutes.
Florida never gives up without a fight and they came out in the third looking for a comeback. The Everblades turned up their offense, forcing the Solar Bears into what became a wild west shootout. The shots came fast and furious on both ends of the ice but Lackey and Hildebrand (29 saves) held the fort. Hildebrand was especially tough, denying clean breakaways by both Tyler Bird and Langan midway through the stanza.
The Everblades finally found a way to put one past Lackey at the 14:35 mark. Logan Roe took the puck down below the goal line and found Blake Winiecki all alone in front. Roe’s pass was right on the tape and Winiecki wired a shot past the rookie netminder for his ninth to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Florida head coach Brad Ralph pulled Hildebrand with 1:51 remaining looking for the equalizer. His troops looked on as LeBlanc chased down a pass at center ice and and fired into the open cage at 18:29 for his sixth of the year. Ralph put his goalie back in but quickly brought him back to the bench a second time. The attempt failed a second time when rookie Anthony Repaci took control of the puck along the half boards in his defensive end and lofted a high, arching clear that went dead center into the empty net for his first professional goal to cap the scoring.
The win brought Orlando’s season record to 5-8-2-0 versus Florida with another 22 meetings still to come. The first of those will cap the weekend set of matchups on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Amway Center.
Notes: Final shots were 39-34 in favor of Florida… The Everblades went 0-for-2 on the power play while the Solar Bears finished 1-for-3… Orlando’s Luchuk extended his points streak to ten games, the first Solar Bears player to have such a run since Erik Bradford in March of 2016… The Solar Bears captain LeBlanc played in his 200th career game with the team, making him the first forward to reach that plateau… During his current unbeaten streak, Lackey has posted a 1.77 goals against average and a save percentage of .941… Orlando is now 15-1-1-0 when scoring three or more goals this season.
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