INDIANAPOLIS, IN – With the ice surface repaired to allow safe play after Saturday night’s suspension of play, the Orlando Solar Bears wanted to back up Friday’s win over the Indy Fuel and Saturday’s strong start. There was just one problem – the Fuel were even more ready to play than the visitors were.
Led by two goals and an assist from Matt Marcinew and a goal and three helpers by Nic Pierog, the host Fuel (28-18-4-0) put an 8-2 beating on the Solar Bears (27-19-4-1) in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 1,489 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Tommy Apap collected a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, two assists and a fight as he and 12 teammates logged at least a point in the game.
The win, combined with Greenville’s overtime loss to South Carolina, pushed Indy back into second place in the ECHL’s Eastern conference with the Swamp Rabbits slipping into third and Orlando sitting in fourth.
Following the news that Saturday’s suspended game would be finished on Monday night, the question was how would the ice surface hold up. As described by Fuel management, the issue the night before was a “divot” near the Orlando bench area. After the event staff worked overnight, the rink appeared to be in good shape as the teams took to it to open the contest.
Indy took pretty decisive control of things in that first period, notching three goals in a span of 6:05 to jump out to a lead. Things started at the 6:05 mark when Pierog slid a pass to Apap in the slot. Apap proceeded to whip a shot past Solar Bears starting goalie Kris Oldham for his first goal with the Fuel.
Two minutes and 36 seconds later, Apap put a pass on the stick of Keoni Texeira in the neutral zone. Texeira got to the Orlando defensive blueline, turned a defender around with an outside fake and inside move and hit the back of the net low to the glove side for his third of the season. Goal number three came at the 12:10 mark when Apap broke out on a two-on-one with Alex Rauter who scored with a wicked shot from the far faceoff circle for his sixth and a 3-0 Indy lead. Rauter’s score ended Oldham’s day as he was replaced by Michael Lackey between the pipes for the Solar Bears.
Dan Bakala, in the net for Indy, kept the lead at three early in the second when Orlando took to a four-on-three power play. The Solar Bears went into shooting gallery mode, putting four on net but Balaka brilliantly kept them all out. The momentum the visitors had from the man advantage turned into a goal at 4:02 when Tristin Langan sent a pass to Tyler Bird on the goal line near the Indy net. Bird got a shot off and Bakala made the save but Langan had followed his feed and banged home the rebound for his 20th goal of the season to make it 3-1.
Langan’s goal opened the floodgates for what ended up being a seven tally frame. Indy’s Matt Marcinew responded to Langan by taking a feed from Pierog, turnstyling a defender and scoring between Lackey’s legs for his 19th at 4:32. That was followed at 5:54 when a defensive zone turnover by Orlando below their goal line turned into Dylan Malmquist’s third of the year to push the Fuel lead to 5-1.
Solar Bears defenseman Alex Kuqali got one back at the 8:30 mark when Tad Kozun forced a turnover and fired a pass that Kuqali buried top corner for his second. Indy came back a little over five minutes later when Diego Cuglietta went cross crease with a pass to Ryan Zuhlsdorf who scored into the wide open side of the cage for his second of the season.
Late in the frame, the Fuel got a power play opportunity and cashed in. Willie Rascob made a perfect pass from the point to the far side circle where Marcinew one-timed it past a screened Lackey for his second of the game and 20th of the season. It gave Indy a commanding 7-2 lead heading to the third and final stanza.
The Fuel kept their collective foot on the pedal, putting 16 shots on net and forcing Lackey (28 saves in 47:49 of playing time) to work very hard. It took until the 12:11 juncture of the third for the final goal of the contest to come along. Pierog did the honors, converting a loose puck from the slot for his 20th of the year. The only other notable event was a fight six seconds after the Pierog tally when Apap completed his Gordie Howe when he dropped the mitts with Orlando’s Fabrizio Ricci. From there, the Fuel coasted to the win.
Bakala made 28 saves to earn the win while Orlando’s Oldham was tagged with the loss.
The teams will try to finish Saturday’s suspended game Monday night at 7 p.m. It will resume with the Solar Bears leading 2-0 with just over five minutes remaining in the first period.
Notes: Final shots were 43-30 in favor of Indy… The Solar Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play while the Fuel were 2-for-4… Indy’s Pelech had two assists, moving him into sole possession of third place on the ECHL’s all-time list for most assists at 392…With his goal, Orlando’s Langan extended his personal goal-scoring streak to three games (5 goals in that time).
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