McCarron, Everblades send Solar Bears to defeat

ORLANDO, FLA – The last time the Orlando Solar Bears and Florida Everblades met, it was late October and both teams were still in the feeling out process with new rosters. In a home-and-home set, the Solar Bears gained a great deal of confidence by winning both contests.

Orlando goalie Martin Ouellette (black jersey) makes one of his 15 first period saves as Florida’s Kyle Platzer looks for a rebound (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)

Thursday night at the Amway Center, the in-state rivals met again and this time it was the squad from southwest Florida that tasted sweet victory.

Led by a goal and two assists from veteran John McCarron, the visiting Everblades (17-6-4-0) skated away with a 4-2 victory over the Solar Bears (13-11-2-0) in front of an announced crowd of 4,093. Curt Gogol and Mitch Hults came away with goals for Orlando while netminder Martin Ouellette, facing his former team for the third time this season, made 36 saves but it was not enough to earn a win.

“I didn’t like our start. It was a tough start for us to give up a goal that fast. It hurts and it takes a lot of momentum out of your game,” Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky said following the game. “I thought our guys battled for the most part. We just couldn’t bury [it] when we had our chances.”

The start that Berehowsky mentioned was one that some of the fans who were late to their seats probably missed. Just 32 seconds after the opening faceoff, McCarron directed a shot on Ouellette that the netminder stopped. The short rebound was gobbled up by Zach Nastasiuk,who had gotten in behind a defender at the top of the crease, and tucked into the back of the cage for Nastasiuk’s eighth goal of the season.

Less than a minute later, the temperature of the contest nearly exploded the thermometer when Solar Bears forward (and former Everblade) Gogol blasted Florida’s Justin Wade into the boards. Wade had to be helped off the ice and did not return while Gogol was sent off for charging to a chorus of boos directed at the referee from the partisan crowd.

“That’s my role – get in there, get on the forecheck, stir things up. I did play with these guys [Everblades] but there’s no friends out there,” Gogol said. “I’m here to play for Orlando. I’m here to help out the guys in our locker room.”

The first frame was totally controlled by the Everblades to the tune of a 17-7 shot advantage. It helped that Florida had three power play chances in the stanza as the Solar Bears seemed undisciplined while trying to establish their style of game. Ouellette was the star for the home team, turning in several key saves including a glove stop on Joe Cox during the third Everblades man advantage.

The visitors upped their lead to two late in the period when Justin Auger went to work. Taking the puck at center ice, Auger was able to turn a defender before getting Ouellette to bite on a fake and sliding the puck home for his fourth of the season.

“The first period kind of killed us with all the penalties,” Hults, who is on assignment to Orlando from the Syracuse Crunch, said. “To start a game off like that it’s tough to bounce back, especially when they go up 2-0. If we had a better first, I think it would have been a different game.”

Orlando’s first power play of the game came at the start of the second period when Florida’s Derek Sheppard was tagged just as the first ended. The Everblades penalty killers frustrated the Solar Bears, allowing just one shot in that opening two minutes.

The Everblades added to their lead at the 7:26 mark when Ben Masella started a transition that turned into a two-on-one break with McCarron. Masella sent the disc to McCarron who returned it to Masella for a low, hard shot from the slot that beat Ouellette to the stick side for the blueliner’s third of the season and a 3-0 lead.

Orlando’s Curt Gogol (19, black) celebrates his third goal of the season with teammate Ryan Lough during Thursday’s second period (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)

By the midpoint of the frame, Florida had a 25-10 shot advantage and Ouellette was keeping the game within reach. The crowd needed something to cheer about and Gogol gave it to them.

Trevor Olson started the play by sending the puck back to the point where Etienne Boutet took the feed. He fired at the net but the shot was blocked. The puck bounced right to Gogol in the slot and he found the back of the net before Everblades goalie Jeremy Helvig could recover for his third of the season.

Gogol, who credited his first two goals on November 24th to luck, said his third was the product of playing the systems set out by the coaching staff.

“It was [a] good forecheck. Both my center and winger [Olson and Ryan Lough] got in on the forecheck and they threw it up the middle,” Gogol said. “Boots [Boutet] came in and got a shot on net and the rebound came out right to me. I was just at the right time at the right moment and got lucky and put it in.”

Florida pushed hard to restore its three-goal margin, hemming the Solar Bears in their defensive zone for a long stretch but Ouellette again kept the Everblades at bay. Moments after breaking the siege, Orlando’s Dylan Fitze had an opportunity at the other end but Helvig (24 saves) matched his counterpart with a big stop.

A late period penalty allowed Orlando to begin the third period with a man advantage and this time the home team cashed in. With less than twenty seconds left on the power play, defenseman Oleg Sosunov found the puck on his stick and wound up for a shot. The drive never made it to Helvig, instead ending up careening to Hults in the faceoff circle to the goalie’s left. Hults one-timed the puck past Helvig for his second of the season, cutting the Everblades lead to 3-2.

Ouellette held the deficit at one goal for the rest of the way, giving his teammates a chance to at least tie the score. The biggest opportunity to do that came on a power play with 5:17 remaining in regulation. Try as they might, the Solar Bears were not able to register a shot on net during that power play as time wound down.

“I don’t think we did a good enough job sustaining the pressure. I don’t think we did a good enough job getting pucks to the net,” Berehowsky said about the missed opportunity. “We have to get more shots [on net]. Goalies are too good nowadays. If you’re only averaging 20 shots a game or 25 shots a game, it’s going to be a long night. We have to get more shots. We have to be committed to getting in there for second and third opportunities and we haven’t been doing that lately.”

Berehowsky pulled Ouellette with 1:48 remaining but McCarron put the final nail in the Solar Bears coffin with a score into the empty net with just over a minute remaining for his eleventh of the year.

The two teams will meet again Friday night at the Amway Center, which coincides with the Solar Bears Teddy Bear Toss night. Hults said he expects the team to get a lift from the fans who will be chomping at the bit to toss stuffed animals onto the ice just as much as getting back at the Everblades.

“I just think as a whole, the fans are going to bring it for us,” Hults said. “It’s going to be loud. [and] it’s going to help us be energetic and I think it’ll be a way better start than today. Just to bring that in and who wants to score that first goal, that’s pretty big. I think it’ll be a completely game with the fans on our back and everything that’s going on tomorrow with the [specialty Santa] jerseys and the teddy bear toss.”

And if that doesn’t work, there’s always the good old fashioned hatred of a bitter rival thing.

“We don’t like those guys. There’s really no other way to put it,” Gogol said. “We’re going to come out the same way. We’re going to come out hitting, we’re going to come out structured and hopefully come out with a win.”

Notes: Florida went 0-for-4 on the power play while Orlando was 1-for-4… Final shots were 40-26 for the Everblades… Solar Bears newcomer Aidan Muir, who was acquired from Fort Wayne for Brady Shaw, did not arrive in time to play… Berehowsky used a lineup with nine forwards and seven defensemen… Florida extended its road record to 9-5-2-0 while Orlando’s home mark fell to 6-8-0-0.