ORLANDO, FLA – The last time the Orlando Solar Bears won three consecutive games over the Florida Everblades, the year was 2014. Under Head Coach Vince Williams, the Solar Bears played some of their best hockey during the back half of the 2013-14 season. They caught the Everblades during the final three regular season meetings that were spaced from January 26th to March 4th on the way to the franchise’s first trip to the ECHL’s Kelly Cup playoffs.
Sunday afternoon at the Amway Center in front of a revved up albeit COVID-restricted crowd of 2,250, the 2020-21 version of the Solar Bears achieved the trinity that had eluded the franchise for seven years.
Paced by two goals from Tristin Langan, a pair of power play tallies and 42 saves from goalie Clint Windsor, Orlando (16-10-3-0) wrapped up a watershed weekend, beating Florida (21-8-0-2) by a final of 5-2. The victory, Orlando’s sixth over the Everblades this season, was the fourth consecutive victory by the Solar Bears and the sixth straight game where the team had come away with at least one point.
Just as Saturday’s game had started, the visiting Everblades hit the scoreboard first. It came 2:31 after the opening faceoff when Joe Pendenza gained control of the puck in the Orlando defensive zone and fed Evan Neugold who was cruising into the slot. With plenty of traffic in front, Neugold found a space between Windsor’s stick side and the post for his first goal as a member of the Florida roster.
The score stayed that way until the Solar Bears got their second power play of the game with 6:25 remaining in the first period. Midway through the man advantage, J.J. Piccinich dug the puck off the half boards and sent it to Zack Andrusiak. Andrusiak quickly found Langan across the ice in the faceoff circle. Langan did the rest, firing a dart past Florida goalie Evan Buitenhuis for his seventh tally of the year.
Two minutes later, another Orlando power play bore fruit. Mark Auk and Aaron Luchuk held the blueline in close quarters, eventually moving the puck to a wide open Jerry D’Amigo. D’Amigo looped into the faceoff circle to Buitenhuis’ left and using Chris LeBlanc as a screen, went short side for his sixth goal to give the Solar Bears a 2-1 lead after one.
Not much went on in the middle stanza – that is if you were not one of the netminders. There was only one power play awarded to the Everblades but the teams combined for 27 shots on net. Florida teed up 17 on Windsor but the Orlando goalie was rock solid. At the other end, Buitenhuis was just as good. He turned away 10 Solar Bears shots including one by Langan from point blank range.
The score remained 2-1 until the home team began to break things open eight minutes into the final frame. That was when Tad Kozun, who had not found the back of the net this year, redirected a shot by Nolan Valleau for his first score of the 20-21 campaign. Then just over a minute later, Orlando’s top line of Luchuk, Jake Coughler and Langan struck. Luchuk put a shot on Buitenhuis but the rebound skidded into the low slot. Coughler was there to collect the puck but was in too tight to make a move. Thinking quickly, he saw Langan wide open at the backside post. Coughler got a pass away that Langan guided into the back of the net for his second of the game and eighth of the season to make it 4-1.
Colby Sissions drew the Everblades within 4-2 at the 14:02 mark when he blasted a shot past a screened Windsor for his first of the year but that was as close as the visitors would get. Coughler sealed the deal when he picked the pocket of a Florida player and put the puck into an empty net for his team-leading 14th goal with 1:17 to go.
Windsor picked up his seventh win of the season with his 42-save effort. Buitenhuis, making his first appearance since signing with the Everblades earlier in the week, stopped 28 of 32 shots and suffered the loss.
Orlando is off until Tuesday when the South Carolina comes to the Amway Center for a 7 p.m. puck drop in a contest that was recently rescheduled. Florida resumes action on Wednesday when the Stingrays head down Interstate 75 to Estero for a game that starts at 7:30 p.m.
Notes: Final shots were 44-33 in favor of Florida… The Everblades went 0-for-2 on the power play while the Solar Bears were 2-for-3. For the weekend, Florida was 0-for-6 with the man advantage while Orlando was 3-for-7… Luchuk’s two assist game vaulted him to near the top of the ECHL’s scoring race. He has 8 goals and 20 assists for 28 points in 29 games played, good for fourth place league-wide and first in the Eastern conference… Luchuk (11 games) and Auk (6 games) both extended their personal scoring streaks… The Solar Bears are 6-8-2-0 against the Everblades this season… D’Amigo’s goal was just part one of a big day. Following the contest, he and his wife Mallory had a gender reveal on the ice at the Amway Center. With his teammates gathered around, D’Amigo took a slap shot on a puck which exploded in a cloud of blue – meaning the couple have a boy on the way. The team released video of the reveal on its social media later on.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.