ORLANDO, FLA – Coming in with a three-game win streak including two against Saturday night’s opponents, the Orlando Solar Bears faced off for the fourth time in ten days against the Florida Everblades at the Amway Center. The Solar Bears were celebrating “Marvel Comics Night”, wearing Loki-themed specialty jerseys but as it turned out, it was the visiting Everblades who had the tricks up their sleeves.
Captain John McCarron scored two goals to eclipse the 20-goal mark for the season as the Everblades (24-15-3-3) edged the host Solar Bears (23-17-3-0) by a final of 2-1 in front of an announced crowd of 6,894. Florida goalie Cam Johnson made 26 saves to outduel Orlando’s Brad Barone who made 32 saves on 34 Everblades chances.
Tyler Bird had the lone goal for the Solar Bears, who after Wednesday’s 2-for-3 power play performance were unsuccessful on three opportunities on Saturday.
Over the course of the winning streak (two against Florida last weekend and one on Wednesday against Jacksonville), the Solar Bears’ offense scored 12 goals while Barone and the defense gave up six. One of the keys had been getting a handle on costly errors and limiting them. Unfortunately on Saturday, the visitors took more advantage than the home team did.
The two rivals battled back and forth for the first half of the opening period with Johnson and Barone matching save for save. With just over six minutes remaining in the frame, Florida’s Jake McLaughlin took a penalty. Orlando’s power play managed two shots on net in the final thirty seconds of the man advantage but failed to beat the Everblades netminder. As the advantage was about to expire, Blake Winiecki sent a pass through the neutral zone to McCarron who was skating along the far wing. He sped into the Orlando end and eventually turned a Solar Bears defender just above the goal line. As McCarron approached the cage, Barone went down to protect the near side post but in doing so left a small bit of room above his shoulders. It was just enough however for McCarron to fire the puck up and over top for his 20th goal of the season – the fifth time he has reached that plateau in six seasons in southwest Florida. It was also his fifth shorthanded tally of the year.
Orlando pulled even early in the second. It came at the 2:03 mark during a rather innocent line change sequence. As both teams were looking to send fresh troops out, Fabrizio Ricci pushed the puck up along the boards to Bird. Bird took control and motored into the Everblades defensive zone and before the visitors could recover, Bird was in the near side faceoff circle charging for the net. Just before he reached the low slot, Bird whistled a shot between Johnson’s legs for his 11th tally of the year and sending the crowd into a loud celebration.
The tie score lasted all of four minutes and 56 seconds before Florida converted what would be the fatal error of the night. Getting control of the puck in his defensive end, the usually sure-handed Joe Garreffa lost the disc whick was quickly jumped on by Nathan Perkovich. Perkovich found some room and tried to put a shot on net. The attempt skidded across the crease in the direction of McCarron, who had gotten inside position on a defender. McCarron was able to corral the puck on his backhand and scoop it into the cage for his second of the night and 21st of the season.
The rest of the middle frame belonged to the goalies. Johnson finished the second with seven saves on eight Orlando shots. Barone was just a bit better with a total of 13 saves on 14 Florida chances.
The battle between the goalies continued in the third. Johnson and Barone went toe-to-toe making save after save to keep it a one-goal game. Each team had a full two-minute power play and about a minute more when a pair of infractions to the Everblades Xavier Bouchard and the Solar Bears Jake Transit overlapped. Orlando’s man advantage yielded no shots on net while Florida’s netted three but nothing found its way behind Johnson.
The Solar Bears pulled Barone, who was playing in his eighth straight contest, with 1:18 remaining but the Everblades held Orlando to only one shot that Johnson easily handled to secure the victory.
With the win, Florida jumped ahead of Atlanta (a 5-3 loser in Toledo on Saturday) back into second place in the South division based on points percentage (.600 for the Everblades, .587 for the Gladiators). Orlando remains in fourth place with its points percentage slipping slightly to .570.
The Solar Bears and Everblades will face each other again Sunday afternoon at 12 noon at the Amway Center.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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