ORLANDO, FL – By this point in the ECHL season, pretty much every team in the league has either hosted or played in a “school day game” that starts at 10:30 am local time. It may not be the best for the players, but it helps to boost attendance and bring in new fans. But what happens when, because of scheduling, a contest is pushed to 9:30 am on a Sunday?
Orlando’s Tayler Thompson (18, center) celebrates his fourth goal of the season on Sunday (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
For the Orlando Solar Bears, they probably do not want to play at that time ever again.
Sparked by three first period tallies and multi-goal games from Garrett Meurs and Riley Bourbonnais, the visiting Wheeling Nailers (27-20-4-0, 58 points) grabbed a 6-5 victory over Orlando (21-22-5-1, 48 points) in front of an announced crowd of 3,731 at the Amway Center. The win was the first for the Nailers over the Solar Bears ever in ECHL play and evened the weekend series at one game each with the tie-breaker set for Monday night in the City Beautiful.
The loss spoiled a two-goal effort by Joe Perry and multi-point games by Chris Crane (1 goal, 2 assists) and Kyle Rankin (3 assists). It also once again exposed one of Orlando’s biggest faults: slow starts in the opening frame.
“We weren’t prepared to play. When you spot a team three goals, it’s hard to come back from [that],” Orlando head coach and general manage Drake Berehowsky said following the game. “I’m  proud that they fought back at the end but we’ve got to be more prepared to start games.”
The visiting Nailers seemedmuch more awake and ready to start the game, coming out firing on Orlando goalie Mackenzie Skapski early and often. That strategy paid off at the 6:00 mark of the first period when Meurs surprised the netminder with a shot from a bad angle along the boards to the left of the net. It slipped between Skapski’s legs and in for Meurs’ 17th of the season and elicited groans from the home fans, many of whom had enjoyed a breakfast buffet prior to the game.
A mere 23 seconds later, the groans got louder when Wheeling’s Freddie Tiffels threaded a pass from below the goal line to teammate Cody Wydo, who was unmarked at the top of the crease. He got just enough of the puck to slide it along the ice to Skapski’s left for his 21st of the yearand a 2-0 Nailers lead.
Just past the midpoint of the frame, a power play led to a third score when Bourbonnais took a feed from Wydo, cut into the slot and fired the puck low stick side for his 15th of the season. The goal, Wheeling’s third on ten shots in 12:15 of play, ended Skapski’s morning as Cal Heeter was sent in to stop the bleeding.
At the other end of the ice, Nailers goalie Adam Morrison was solid and steady, holding off and frustrating the Solar Bears with a string of saves. He nearly got through the stanza with a clean scoresheet but with less than a second left on the clock, Perry took a stretch pass from Crane, drove in on a breakaway and scored his ninth of the season to cut the margin to 3-1.
Orlando’s Hunter Fejes (23, white) found himself surrounded by Wheeling players during the second period Sunday (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
It was a score that was badly needed – and nearly did not happen as the buzzer ending the period sounded before Perry could even celebrate.
“I thought that goal in the first at the end there was a boost for us. Going into the intermission, it gave us a little bit of hope that wecould make a push back there,” Perry said. “I had absolutely no idea [if it was in time]. The only thing I knew was when I skated by the net and I saw it in the net. I heard the horn go and I was kind of like ‘wow’. I had no idea [if it was good] to be honest.”
Heeter opened the second frame by stopping Wydo on a clean breakaway, giving the fans hope that the tide was turning in the Solar Bears favor. That was quickly proven wrong when Meurs redirected a shot/pass from Dylan Zink on net and cashed in on his own rebound for his second of the game at the 6:37 mark.
When Bourbonnais took a drop pass from Jaynen Rissling and recreated his first period tally for his second tally of the game at 10:04, the Solar Bears found themselves down 5-1 and things looked bleak. Just 18 seconds later, Orlando forward Tayler Thompson breathed life into his team when after taking a feed from Fejes and being surrounded by multiple defenders, he made a toe drag to create space and fired the puck past Morrison for his fourth of the season.
“Coach was just saying [to] get pucks on net and I got a pass from Feej [Fejes] in the middle there,” Thompson said. “I just tried using the defenseman as a screen by shooting through his legs. I wasn’t really putting it in a specific spot, just trying to use him as a screen and it worked out.”
The Solar Bears crept a little closer late in the period when a turnover sent Martins Dzierkals away on a breakout. Dzierkals drew the defenders in his direction before sliding the puck to Crane who put a backhander between Morrison’s legs for his 10th and cut the deficit to 5-3 heading to the third period.
Wheeling’s Adam Morrison fends off Orlando’s Joe Perry in second period action on Sunday (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
The score stayed status quo through the first half of the final frame before the Nailers extended their lead again. Playing with a man advantage, Nick Sorkin set up Zink who ripped a wicked wrist shot into the top corner of the net past Heeter’s glove for the defenseman’s fourth goal of the season.
Orlando responded less than a minute later when Perry got the puck from Rankin along the boards to Morrison’s right and curled into the faceoff circle. With plenty of room and Crane setting a huge screen in front, Perry went low to the far corner for his second tally of the game and 10th of the year to make it 6-4.
The Solar Bears pushed hard, pummeling Morrison (38 saves) with shots galore only to watch the netminder turn them away. Berehowsky pulled Heeter (21 saves) with 3:30 left in regulation, inceasing the pressure on the Wheeling defense. A penalty to Perry slowed the attack but with 42.6 seconds to go, Fejes got the puck to defenseman Sam Jardine who rocketed a shot home for his second of the season to trim the margin to 6-5. It would be as close as Orlando got as Morrison and the Nailers closed out the game with a win.
Notes: Final shots were 43-34 in favor of Orlando… The Solar Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play while Wheeling finished 2-for-7… The two teams finish their trio og meetings Monday night at 7 p.m. at the Amway Center.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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