ORLANDO, FLA – Orlando Solar Bears head coach Drake Berehowsky saw Tuesday night’s battle between his team and the top team in the North division, the Manchester Monarchs, as a measuring stick for where the Solar Bears had progressed to since he took over behind the bench. Tuesday was also the coach’s 45th birthday, so there was some hope that the team could give him two points as a present.
Orlando’s Joe Perry (26, white) is sandwiched by Manchester’s Sam Brittain (left) and Alexx Priviteraduring Tuesday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Berehowsky did not exactly get the total gift but it was the thought – or in this case the effort – that counted just as much.
Derek Arnold scored in the eighth round of a shootout to give the visiting Monarchs (21-8-1-1, 44 points) a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Berehowsky’s Solar Bears (17-10-4-2, 40 points) in front of an announced crowd of 4,211 at the Amway Center. The loss, which ran Orlando’s winless streak to four games, saw newcomer Alex Gacek score his first two goals in a Solar Bears uniform and rookie goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo give another solid performance in net.
“I thought we had a good effort and our guys played well. I thought it was a great game [with] two good teams and they battled right to the end,” Berehowsky said. “They [the players] got me a point [for my birthday] so I’m pretty happy with that.”
If the ECHL was using last season’s conference playoff format, Tuesday’s game would have been a meeting between the second and fourth best squads in the East. As it was, the contest between the first place Monarchs (North division) and the second place Solar Bears (South division) was a potential conference final preview and it lived up to the billing. It was also going to be a test of how Orlando would handle some roster adversity with three defensemen – Taylor Doherty (call-up to AHL Providence), Trevor Ludwig (on Injured Reserve with a lower body injury) and Ben Danford (placed on reserve) – all missing the game.
The opening period played out in what amounted to two acts with Kaskisuo and Manchester’s Sam Brittain playing the leads in a tense drama. Act one had Orlando bombarding the Monarchs net with a flurry of shots that Brittain handled nicely. His best save of the first half of the frame came when he stared down Solar Bears forward Connor Gaarder on a break-in.
Kaskisuo was not too busy in the first ten minutes but he saw plenty of rubber in the back half of the stanza. His best early save came when he won a one-on-one battle with Arnold at the top of the goal crease. Late in the frame he held the post with his right skate and pad to deny Joe Diamond a stuff in attempt to keep it scoreless heading to the second period.
Thanks to a power play that produced four shots but remained scoreless, the Solar Bears built some early momentum in the middle frame. That push led to the game’s opening goal at the 7:03 mark. Mason Marchment, who was assigned back to Orlando by the Toronto Marlies on New Year’s Day, won an offensive zone face-off back to Chris Bradley at the point to the lest side of the Manchester net. Bradley teed up a shot that navigated some traffic and deflected off of Gacek who was standing in front of Brittain into the net for his ninth goal of the season and the first for his new team.
“It was a great win off the face-off and the puck went back to Brads [Bradley],” Gacek said when asked to describe the play. “The puck had eyes and I just really got to the net and luckily it hit me.”
Manchester’s special teams, which played a key role in the contest, got their first chance to shine when Orlando’s Eric Baier was called for a penalty at the 9:17 mark of the frame. It took just 36 seconds for the Monarchs to capitalize when Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman lofted a pass to Gasper Kopitar at the half boards. Kopitar, the brother of LA Kings star Anze Kopitar, knocked the aerial feed down, skated to just above the face-off dot to Kaskisuo’s right and lasered a snap shot to the top corner past the goalie’s catching glove for his fifth of the season.
Late in the period, the Solar Bears were on the power play when calamity struck. A bad pass ended up with the puck on the stick of Manchester’s Kevin Morris. Morris drove into the Orlando defensive zone, cutting from Kaskisuo’s right in the direction of the net. Before he committed to the slot, Morris let a shot go that beat the goalie short side for Morris’ seventh of the year and Manchester’s third short-handed tally of the season – the first since October 30th. For the host Solar Bears, it was the fifth goal they had given up while having a man advantage this season.
After the Gacek score, Brittain settled in and kept Orlando from pulling even before the end of the second period and into the third. He was especially good during a Solar Bears penalty kill early in the final frame when he denied Patrick Watling on a golden opportunity, kicking out his left leg to turn Watling’s attempt away.
Brittain’s luck ran out at the 8:43 mark of the period when again Orlando’s skill in the face-off circle paid dividends. This time Eric Faille cleanly won a draw back to Brenden Miller at the point. Miller dipped in a stride or two and nailed a shot that eluded the Monarchs netminder on the blocker side for his fourth of the season and third in as many games.
A little under five minutes later, more hard work from Faille led to the Solar Bears regaining the lead. He took the puck and drove behind the net. As he cleared the back, Faille pushed the disc to the front through the crease where Gacek began whacking away. On his third try, the puck squeezed under Brittain’s right leg and across the goal line for Gacek’s second of the game and tenth of the season.
“The first couple of games he was probably a little nervous [and] skiddish because he didn’t know his teammates,” Berehowsky said about Gacek. “He’s got the right attitude. [He] goes to the hard areas and he’s willing to pay the price.”
The lead lasted all of 44 seconds before Manchester answered back. It came off the stick of LaVallee-Smotherman who blasted a shot from the left circle inside the near post for his tenth of the season off a feed from Alexx Privitera.
Eventually the game went to overtime where the Solar Bears had an immediate opportunity to end the game when Privitera took a slashing penalty just as the third frame ended. On the ensuing man advantage Brittain – who finished with 43 saves –Â was brilliant, robbing Joe Perry who was staring at a wide open net on the weak side of the play. Brittain dove and got his stick blade on Perry’s shot just enough to send it wide. Orlando had the bulk of the chances in the extra period but because of Brittain – and for that matter Kaskisuo – the game headed to the shootout.
The Solar Bears Austin Block netted the first score of the skills competition in the sixth round, going high over Brittain’s blocker glove. Diamond answered back in the Manchester half of the round, beating Kaskisuo with a shot between the netminder’s right pad and blocker. After a scoreless seventh round and a miss by Orlando’s Darik Angeli in round eight, Arnold won the game for the Monarchs when he got Kaskisuo moving and slid the puck between the goalie’s legs.
Despite the loss, Kaskisuo continued his improvement, finishing with 40 saves. He gave a lot of credit to his teammates who went toe-to-toe with one of the league’s best teams, proving that the Solar Bears can play with the upper echelon squads even under trying circumstances.
“I’m really proud of how our guys played. It was a big test for us and we proved that we can play with one of the best teams in the league – especially our defense,” Kaskisuo said. “We only had five guys out there and they played awesome. It was great to be back there and see that they could match the level [of Manchester].”
Earlier in the day, the ECHL released the roster for the league All-Star squad that will take on the host Adirondack Thunder in Glens Falls on Wednesday, January 18th. Manchester’s Justin Agosta was named to the team as was Orlando rookie Tony Cameranesi. Cameranesi, who was recalled by the Marlies on Sunday and played his first game with them on Tuesday, was tied for first in goals scored by a rookie heading into Tuesday’s action.
“I think it’s fantastic. He deserves it. He’s been playing really well. He skates really well. He’s been getting a lot of points,” Berehowsky said of Cameranesi. “When you’re willing to pay the price like that you get called up and you get All-Star ballots (votes) and stuff like that. As a group and as an organization, we’re real proud of him.”
Notes: Faille’s two assists extended his points streak to five games (2 goals, 5 assists)… Marchment picked up where he left off, picking up a secondary assist on Gacek’s first tally to run his point streak with the Solar Bears to four games (2 goals, 2 assists… On the Manchester side, LaVallee-Smotherman extended his point streak to eight games (6 goals, 3 assists)… While Tuesday’s shootout was the second straight for Orlando, it was the Monarchs’ first since October 14th… Manchester heads on to meet the Florida Everblades in a three game set between the Eastern conference’s top two teams beginning Wednesday in Estero… Orlando will head out on Thursday for a seven-game road trip that will take it to Loveland, Colorado for three games followed by Anchorage, Alaska for three. The trip will conclude after the All-Star break on January 20th in Estero against the Everblades.
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