ESTERO, FLA – When the Orlando Solar Bears and Florida Everblades get together, fireworks are usually expected. In the playoffs, that expectation grows greatly given that post-season emotions always seem to boil over quickly. Friday night at Germain Arena, the Solar Bears and Everblades nearly came to blows during the pre-game warmups.
As it turned out, it was just what the home team needed to get into the heads of their rivals.
Led by John McCarron, who scored a goal and added two assists, and the near perfect goaltending of Martin Ouellette, Florida handed Orlando its first loss of the 2018 ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs by a final of 4-1 in front of an announced crowd of 4,127. Joe Cox, Brett Bulmer and David Dziurzynski all added goals for the host Everblades who took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven South division finals.
Game two is set for Saturday night also at Germain Arena.
Both teams entered game one off of first round series sweeps, setting up what is expected to be a long, hard-fought series between two of the fiercest rivals in the ECHL. The hatred shared by the two teams for each other nearly got the best of them when with just over five minutes left in warmups, the squads met at center ice with plenty of shoves and words exchanged. Though no punches were thrown before the players went their separate ways, the near clash let everyone in the arena and watching at home on-line that neither side was ready to give an inch.
The host Everblades got the jump on the Solar Bears less than two minutes into the opening period. The play started when Florida defenseman Derek Sheppard knocked down the puck at the Orlando defensive blueline and sent a pass down to McCarron near the goal line. It took McCarron the blink of an eye before the puck was off his stick heading to the slot where Cox banged it past Orlando goalie Cal Heeter for his first goal of the playoffs at the 1:46 mark.
Finding itself trailing early, Orlando faced another obstacle 93 seconds later when Heeter was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, giving Florida a power play. The Solar Bears penalty killers, who entered the game having killed 18 straight man-down situations, held the Everblades to just one shot on Heeter and nearly evened the score when Hunter Fejes used his speed to get in on Ouellette, forcing the netminder to make a big save.
Late in the period, Solar Bears defenseman Alex Gudbranson came to the aid of his goalie for the third time this post-season, getting to a loose puck in the crease and clearing it out of danger. It was the closest either team got to changing the score before the first intermission as the Everblades held their 1-0 lead at the break.
Early in the second period, Orlando captain Sean Simmerman and Florida’s Dziurzynski went to the penalty box with offsetting penalties (Zimmerman for unsportsmanlike conduct – disputing official’s decision and Dziurzynski for slashing) at the 1:54 mark. Seconds after the infractions expired, the Everblades doubled their lead. Steven Lorentz poked the puck to Gus Young who broke out with McCarron on a two-on-one break. Driving into the Orlando end, Young held the puck before feeding a wide open McCarron who ripped a shot from the face-off circle to the right of Heeter into the twine for his third post-season tally of 2018.
A little over two minutes later, the Solar Bears went on the man advantage but it nearly cost them. During the power play, Florida’s Justin Kea got loose for a break-in but Heeter, as he did multiple times against South Carolina, made the save. Orlando killed off two more Florida power plays in the middle frame to keep within 2-0 heading to the final twenty minutes.
Whatever Orlando head coach/general manager Drake Berehowsky said in the locker room during the intermission must have been good as the Solar Bears came out hard in the third. Martins Dzierkals nearly got his team on the board, ringing a shot off the goalpost behind Ouellette. Seconds later, defenseman Nolan Valleau rimmed a pass around the boards to Max Novak behind the Florida net. With the puck on his backhand, Novak dished a perfect pass to Fejes who beat Ouellette from the slot for his third playoff goal at the 1:51 mark, cutting Florida’s lead to 2-1.
Just over a minute later, the Solar Bears went on their second power play of the game when the Everblades’ Mitchell Heard went off for cross-checking. Unfortunately for the visitors, the advantage was short-lived as Fejes was nabbed for the same infraction 25 seconds later.
Midway through the period, Florida regained its two-goal lead when Brett Bulmer notched his third score of the post-season. The play, which came at the 10:32 mark, started with Zack Kamrass making a cross-blueline pass to Young. Young drove a shot on net that Heeter stopped but the rebound kicked hard to the goalie’s left. Bulmer was in the right place to drive the disc into the open side of the cage to put the Everblades up 3-1.
Try as they might, the Solar Bears just could not muster the quality scoring chances needed to get back into the contest. Following their sixth successful penalty kill of the game, they pulled Heeter with 1:10 to go in a desperate attempt to get closer. The effort went for naught when after a blocked shot in the Everblades defesnive zone, McCarron pushed the puck to Dziurzynski who scaled the puck from the slot in his end into the empty Orlando net with 5.9 seconds remaining to seal the win.
Ouellette, who had beaten Orlando eight times during the regular season, won his fourth game of the post-season with 22 saves. His goals against average dropped to 1.49 to go with a .934 save percentage. Heeter finished the night with 35 saves, which elevated his goals against average to 1.26 and dropped his save percentage to .963.
Following Saturday’s game 2, the series will shift back to Orlando for games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) on Thursday, May 3, Friday, May 4 and Sunday, May 6.
Notes: Florida won the shots on net battle 39-23… The Solar Bears penalty killers were a perfect 6-for-6, bringing their playoff streak to 24-for-24… The Everblades killed off both Orlando man advantages, making them 18-for-20 in killing penalties so far this post-season… Orlando’s Valleau extended his assist streak to three games (3 assists)… With the win, Florida ran its current winning streak to 15 games, covering the last ten contests of the regular season and the first five playoff games. The last team to beat them: Orlando back on March 17th when the Solar Bears outscored the Everblades 8-5 at Germain Arena… The win was also the Everblades’ fourth straight playoff victory over their in-state archrivals, dating back to game five of last season’s series between the two teams… Orlando’s AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, fell for the second straight game to the Utica Comets 5-2, squaring the best-of-five series at two wins each. The deciding game five will be played Sunday afternoon in Toronto.
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