ORLANDO, FLA – Early Sunday evening, Orlando Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky, asked to explain a particularly frustrating loss to Idaho, called out his special teams units for failing to succeed. Two nights later, Orlando’s power play units did deliver one goal in another loss to the Steelheads but the penalty killing sets allowed two scores.
After another couple days of practice and discussion, it appears that the penalty killers finally got the message and made it a priority to put a few changes into effect with very positive results.
Paced by short-handed tallies by Chris LeBlanc and Cody Donaghey during a three goal second period, host Orlando (35-23-4-1, 75 points) easily handeled the Atlanta Gladiators (27-26-7-3, 64 points) by a final of 5-1 in front of an announced crowd of 4,791 at the Amway Center. Otto Somppi, Brett Pedersen and Colby McAuley each added a goal to the cause while goalie Clint Windsor stopped 36 of 37 Atlanta shots to grab his third win of the season in four outings.
Orlando goalie Clint Windsor (38, white) makes one of his 36 saves as Atlanta’s Nick Bligh (8, black) tries to crash in for a rebound ahead of Solar Bears forward Brent Pedersen (91, white) during Thursday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
The victory, the Solar Bears 18th at home this year, also allowed them to drop their magic number for securing an invite to the ECHL Kelly Cup payoffs to four over idle South Carolina.
“We tried to be a little more aggressive. That was a point of emphasis,” LeBlanc, one of the Solar Bears go-to players when the team is shorthanded, said about the effort on Thursday. “We haven’t been very good in that area so we’re just trying to get the ball rolling heading into the playoffs.”
Saying that penalty killing had been an issue was an understatement. Heading into Thursday’s contest, Orlando was dead last in the ECHL in successful PK percentage, killing man down situations at just 76.8 percent. It had Berehowsky and assistant coach Marc LeFebvre looking for a fix anywhere they could find it.
“We’re trying to change up the PK a little bit. We realize that it wasn’t good enough,” Berehowsky explained. “We’ve called some people and we’ve gotten some help. We’re trying to take advice from everywhere and put it together into our game.”
Special teams seemed to be a small issue late Wednesday night when word came that goalie Martin Ouellette had been badly injured in an AHL game bewteen Syracuse (Orlando’s AHL affiliate) and Charlotte, necessitating a recall of netminder Connor Ingram by the Crunch. Berehowsky proceeded to activate Windsor off the injured reserve list where he had been placed retroactively to March 3rd and chose to start him.
“It was actually last night [when] I got a call from the coach. I heard about Marty and I feel terrible for him. He’s a great guyand I wish him a speedy recovery,” Windsor said. “You never want to see that happen but obviously for me, it gave me an opportunity to start tonight. My plan since I’ve been here was to get [in] as many games as possible somy time came and I’m just happy to get a win for our team.”
Berehowsky said that the team had gone through some good practice time between Tuesday and Thursday and it looked like it. The Solar Bears seemed to be passing and moving the puck much better that they did against Idaho and the effort on defense matched the one put in up front.
Despite two early power plays that failed to bear fruit, Orlando continued to plug away and finally found the back of the twice in the back half of the first period. At the 12:17 mark, Donaghey was carrying the puck behind the Atlanta net or so the Gladiators thought. With a defender on his tail, Donaghey whipped a backhanded pass to the front of the net where McAuley was wide open. McAuley wasted no time in burying the biscuit in the twine behind Gladiators goalie Sean Bonar for his 13th of the season.
Four and a half minutes later, the Solar Bears struck again thanks to some creativity. Somppi was standing on the goalline to Bonar’s right when Troy Bourke took control of the puck and headed along the boards toward the back of the cage. With Somppi holding his already acquired position, he created an NBA-style pick, giving Bourke even more room to operate. As the defender drifted away, Bourke dropped a pass to the suddenly wide open Somppi, who dragged the puck above the line and buried a shot to the far side of the net for his 9th of the season.
Up 2-0 after one, the Solar Bears faced having to kill off a penalty that had 1:50 remaining on it as the middle frame began. Orlando’s penalty killers aggressively attacked Atlanta’s power play units, giving up only one shot on Windsor in the resumption of the kill. The momentum created by the kill eventually led to a goal when Pedersen created a turnover in the neutral zone, instantly turning it into a two-on-two transition rush. Pedersen carried the puck into the Gladiators end and using his teammate as a decoy, rifled a shot from the faceoff circle that grazed the post before tucking itself into the net for his 11th.
Orlando’s Chris LeBlanc (16, white) buried a shot past Atlanta goalie Sean Bonar for a short-handed tally during Thursday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / orlando Solar Bears)
After a momentary break for a twin bill of scrums that resulted in one legit fight (McAuley vs. Atlanta’s Jake Flegel) and an extended shoving match (Mitch Hults vs. Brett McKenzie), the Solar Bears faced a second man down situation. This time, they made it work as Mathieu Foget’s clearing shot was deflected, knocking it down at center ice. LeBlanc traked it down and went in alone. He faked a forehand and then quickly changed direction, flipping a backhander past Bonar’s glove hand for his 7th of the season and a commanding 4-0 lead.
“Foges [Foget] just sent it out of the zone. I think it got deflected and I was in alone,” LeBlanc said. “I just tried to make a move and beat him backhand top corner.”
LeBlanc’s score ended Bonar’s night as Michael Bitner entered the cage for the Gladiators. Atlanta continued to fight and ended Windsor’s shutout bid with just under three minutes remaining in the second when McKenzie took advantage of a Solar Bears miscue to take the disc and sent it along to Nolan LaPorte who fired it home for his 17th of the season to make it 4-1.
Another fight, this time between Orlando’s Zach Frye and Atlanta’s Avery Peterson, sent a buzz through the crowd. That buzz was quieted a bit by a Solar Bears penalty but again it became an advantage for the home team. With seconds remaining before the second intermission, Orlando mounted a counterattack that seemed more interested in killing time than scoring. Somppi skated the puck down to the goalline to Bitner’s right and looked up to see Donaghey busting it for the top of the crease. Somppi threaded a pass to the slot where Donaghey drove it home for the team’s second shorty of the night.
The goal, which put the Solar Bears up 5-1, was a noteworthy one on a couple of fronts. First, Bourke got the secondary assist on the tally, giving him 150 career points as well as it being his 100th career assist. For Donaghey, it was his 15th of the season and second point of the night. The two points allowed the San Jose prospect to pass defenseman Eric Baier for most points by a Solar Bears blueliner in a single season, the mark having been 38 (10 goals, 28 assists) set during the 2015-16 campaign. Additionally, the goal tied him with Brenden Miller for most goals by a Solar Bears defenseman in asingle season, set during the 2016-17 season.
Orlando’s Troy Bourke (2, white) tries to get the puck past Atlanta’s Justin MacDonald during Thursday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
The third period was all about getting Windsor the victory. The Hamilton, Ontario native showed few if any signs of rust from his long layoff. The Gladiators threw 14 shots at him during the final frame, including a testing attempt by Tyson Fawcett, but the rookie played like a seasoned veteran in stopping every one of them.
Ever humble, Windsor gave a good amount of credit for the victory to his teammates who played well in front of him on the defensive end.
“The boys played awesome in front of me and they gave me some run support, which made my job a little easier,” Windsor said. “It’s easy for a goalie to know that the puck is my responsibility and I got that and my defense will clear it out and they’ll make the blocks when they have to. They did everything they could tonight and the results showed.”
As far as Berehowsky was concerned, he was happy that the message in the wake of the two losses to Idaho was received.
“I think the guys realize that they didn’t play well for two games,” Berehowsky said. “We had a good practice yesterday [Wednesday]. We hadn’t practiced for a while so we touched on alot of things and they came out tonight like they were hungry.”
Orlando’s Jackson Playfair (18, white) battles for position in front of the Atlanta net with the Gladiators’ Zach Malatesta (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Orlando now heads out on its last road trip of the season beginning Saturday in Estero against the Florida Everblades before hitting Atlanta, Greenville and South Carolina. LeBlanc said that although continuing to win to solidify a playoff spot and secure home ice in the first round is a priority, there is more to work on heading into the post-season.
“[We need to work on] just being consistent. We’re going to try not to lay an egg like we did versus Idaho – that’s backtracking and at this time that’s no good,” LeBlanc said. “We’re trying to keep moving forward and playing consistent hockey the way that we want to and within our structure. That way once playoff time comes, the ball will be rolling in the right direction.”
Notes: Final shots were 38-37 in favor of Orlando… The Solar Bears were 0-for-3 on the power play while the Gladiators also failed in three attempts with the man advantage.
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