ST. JOHN’S, NFL – Coming off a tough loss to a very good Newfoundland Growlers team on Friday night, the Orlando Solar Bears returned to Mile One Centre with revenge on their minds.
And thanks to a lineup change, the Solar Bears got exactly what they both wanted and needed.
San Jose prospect Colby McAuley returned to the Orlando lineup in a big way, netting a hat trick to lead the visiting Solar Bears (32-21-4-0) to a 4-2 win over the host Growlers (39-17-4-0) in front of an announced crowd of 5,778. Trevor Olson continued his hot play of late, scoring his fourth game winning goal of the season to help goalie Connor Ingram to his first victory with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s ECHL affiliate.
McAuley, who more than proved his worth to the Solar Bears prior to being recalled by the AHL San Jose Barracuda on February 12th, was a much needed replacement as Orlando lost Brent Pedersen to his second callup to the Manitoba Moose Friday night.
Put on a line with Mitch Hults and Troy Bourke, McAuley made an impact before the game was a minute old. Hults and Bourke combined their talents to help the visitors break out of their own defensive zone. Taking a feed in the neutral zone, McAuley turned on the jets and quickly entered the Newfoundland end and turned a defender. Cutting to the net, McAuley was able to draw the puck around Growlers goalie Eamon McAdam and tuck in inside the goal post for his eighth goal of the season.
It was the only score between the two teams in the opening frame as McAdam settled in and went toe-to-toe with Ingram, who was looking for some redemption of his own in his second start with Orlando. Ingram was dialed infrom the start, making several key saves among the six he recorded in the period to hold the lead heading into the intermission.
A key part of the Solar Bears effort in the first stanza – and one that carried throughout the entire contest – was the work of the penalty killing units. Savaged by three Growlers power play goals on Friday, Orlando’s PK was spot on in the opening twenty minutes.
Newfoundland gained some momentum early in the second period, killing a Solar Bears power play that began the stanza. Less than a minute after the successful kill, the Growlers evened the score when Adam Pardy took the puck down low before threading a pass to Derian Plouffe who was in the slot. Plouffe wasted no time in rifling a wrist shot past Ingram’s blocker side for his 12th of the year at the 2:45 mark.
Orlando refused to repeat its mistake of letting the Growlers gain control from 24 hours earlier, answering with a hustle goal at the 8:50 mark. Bourke chased down the puck and gained control down below the goal line. He spotted an open McAuley and sent a pass to his teammate in the faceoff circle to McAdam’s right. McAuley sized up the situation and laced a shot past the Newfoundland netminder for his second of the night and ninth of the year.
Fueled by the efforts by McAuley and the penalty killers, Orlando’s power play was able to erase Friday’s failure by providing a bit of a cushion. A little more than a minute into aman advantage opportunity, Bourke 93 assists) carried the puck into the Growlers end. He made a curl move along the half boards and zipped a pass to a wideopen Olson in the slot. Olson one-timed the feed past some traffic in front and into the net for his 15th tally of the season and the eventual game-winning goal.
The Growlers came out on fire in the third, trying to quickly get back into the game. They pummeled Ingram with a series of shots in a span of about four minutes but the Solar Bears goalie stood his ground.
Ingram (25 saves) held Newfoundland at bay until the 14:08 mark when Garrett Johnston floated a shot from the point that got past the distracted Orlando netminder who was fighting off a screen in front. For Johnston, it was his first career ECHL goal.
The Johnston tally, which came at the end of a stretch of seven consecutive shots in a span of six minutes, brought the crowd back into the game and seemed to pick upeveryone on the Newfoundland bench. The Solar Bears, however, had other plans as they tightened up in front of Ingram and allowed just two Growlers shots in the final five minutes of regulation.
McAuley put a punctuation mark on the night when he netted his hat trick goal with 4:14 to go. He took advantage of a bad pass by the Growlers, chasing down the loose puck at center ice and speeding away. He reprised his first score of the night.cutting to the net and dragging the puck around McAdam (21 saves) before sliding it home for his tenth goal of the season.
The two teams will finish the weekend set and the season series Sunday afternoon with a 4 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. Eastern) faceoff at the Mile One Centre.
Notes: Final shots were 27-25 in favor of Newfoundland… The Solar Bears went 1-for-4 on the power play while the penalty killerd redeemed themselves by denying all six chances the Growlers had with the man advantage… The Solar Bears are now 22-0-0-0 when leading after two periods of play this season… Hults celebrated his 100th professional game by posting two assists and extending his assist streak to two games (3 assists)… Orlando is 12-0-1-0 when Olson scores a goal this season… The season series between the Solar Bears and Growlers is now even at two wins each with one of the Orlando victories coming in overtime.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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