ESTERO, FLA – Heading into Friday night’s game, the Orlando Solar Bears had not won a game on the road against the Florida Everblades. Central Florida’s ECHL squad was 0-3 at Hertz Arena, getting shut out in two of the meetings in southwest Florida. They needed something to change, someone to step up and lead them to a win.
Tristin Langan heard the call and decided that it was his night to shine.
Langan scored twice, once in regulation and then again in the sixth round of a shootout, to lift Orlando (9-6-1-0) to a 3-2 victory over the host Everblades (12-5-0-1) in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 2,891. Solar Bears captain Chris LeBlanc scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season in the third period to send the game to extra time and goalie Garret Sparks was brilliant, stopping 31 of 33 Florida shots and turning away five of six Everblades chances in the shootout.
Orlando looked to be in trouble when Florida’s Michael Huntebrinker, who had scored on a penalty shot in the second period, beat Sparks between the legs in round two of the three-round skills competition but Jake Coughler evened things up when he scored on Everblades’ netminder Jake Hildebrand with the first shot of round three.
After Sparks denied sniper John McCarron to extend the shootout into extra rounds and a pair of scoreless rounds, Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky sent Langan out to open the sixth. He swooped in, going in a wide arc before cutting across the front of the net from Hildebrand’s left to right. As Hildebrand started to follow him, Langan fired back to the netminder’s left side, beating the goalie to the glove side. Sparks then sealed the victory by forcing Everblades defenseman Logan Roe to miss the net on Florida’s opportunity to keep the game going.
The first period of Friday’s tilt was a battle of the netminders. Both Sparks and Hildebrand were on point in the opening frame. At his end of the rink, Hildebrand was solid, making saves on all eight Orlando shots he faced. Sparks matched his counterpart by stopping all seven Everblades attempts including a set of back-to-back saves on Marcus Vela and Levko Koper in quick succession.
Langan opened the scoring 4:23 into the second period. Michael Prapavessis, who was making his Solar Bears debut, took the puck off the half boards and circled toward the slot. As the Florida defense converged on him, Prapavessis slipped a pass to Langan who blasted a wrist shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle past Hildebrand for his third goal of the season.
The lead for the visitors lasted 1:24 before Florida responded. At the tail end of killing a penalty, Huntebrinker took a pass at the Orlando defensive blue line and split the defenders. Although he got a good shot off, Huntebrinker was awarded a penalty shot. Taking the puck at center ice, Huntebrinker drove straight in before making a move to get Sparks sliding. Once the Solar Bears netminder was committed, Huntebrinker shifted back in the other direction and slid the puck into the open net for his team-leading tenth tally of the season.
The score remained tied until the late stages of the stanza. That was when McCarron was fed the puck in the Orlando end by Blake Winiecki. He turned toward the net and as he did, the Solar Bears defense opened up, giving the Everblades sniper more than enough room to move in and rifle a backhander over Sparks’ shoulder for his eighth of the year and a 2-1 Florida lead heading to the final frame.
The Solar Bears opened the third by pressing hard looking for the tying score. It finally came when LeBlanc forced a Florida turnover at the Orlando defensive blue line. The Orlando captain sped off all alone and eventually beating Hildebrand to the top corner, pulling the visitors even at the 7:35 mark of the stanza.
From there, the netminders locked in and kept things under control. In the final minute, Coughler put a shot on net that appeared to go up Hildebrand’s chest and roll down his back and across the goal line. After a video review, referee Sean MacFarlane overruled the goal judge and waived the potential game-winning score off, sending the contest to overtime.
In the extra period, Orlando had a pair of bang-bang chances by Aaron Luchuk turned away by Hildebrand. Then with 3:32 left in the seven-minute period, the Everblades were given a power play. Sparks and his Solar Bears teammates held off the Florida power play unit. Each team recorded six shots but none of them found the back of the net and the game went to the shootout where Orlando would prevail thanks to Langan.
Both teams finished with 33 shots on net through 67 minutes of play, leaving Sparks and Hildebrand with matching 31-save nights. Neither team scored on the power play as the Solar Bears went 0-for-2 while the Everblades finished 0-for-4.
The two teams will finish their weekend set Saturday night at Hertz Arena with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
Notes: Sparks’ win was his 30th with the Solar Bears, making him only the second netminder in the franchise’s ECHL history to earn 30 victories. Ryan Massa sits atop the list with 41 regular season triumphs… LeBlanc’s goal was his 39th with Orlando, putting him in sole possession of third place in all-time goals with the team, one ahead of Brett Findlay.
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