JACKSONVILLE, FLA – With a potential playoff spot on the line, the Jacksonville Icemen hosted the Orlando Solar Bears at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena on Tuesday, June 1st. The contest was a defensive, playoff-style affair and when all was said and done, the visiting Solar Bears took advantage of a decision late in the third period to edge Jacksonville 3-2, knocking the Icemen out of the race for a postseason spot.
Orlando opened the scoring in the first period when Tad Kozun was able to roll a shot between the legs of Jacksonville netminder Charles Williams for his fourth goal of the season. It was the only score of the opening twenty minutes, one that saw the Solar Bears outshoot the Icemen by a count of 10-9.
The script flipped in the second frame as Jacksonville posted seven shots to five for Orlando. The Icemen tallied the lone score of the frame when Erik Bradford redirected a pass from Ara Nazarian behind Solar Bears netminder Clint Windsor for his 10th goal of the year, evening the score at 1-1 heading to the final period.
Jacksonville took its only lead of the night 4:59 into the third when Mike Szmatula outfought an Orlando defender behind the net and curled out from. Using another Solar Bear as a screen, Szmatula fired a shot that found the back of the net for his 21st tally of the season.
A little past the midpoint of the period, Orlando’s Tristin Langan took a pass from Michael Joly and beat Williams for his 28th goal of the year and his fourth straight game with a tying score in the third stanza.
The Icemen needed to win in regulation and with 3:24 left in the period, were given a power play opportunity. As time was running down, the Jacksonville coaching staff made the decision to pull Williams for an extra attacker to give themselves a six-on-four skater advantage. Unfortunately for the Icemen, Langan won a puck battle on the boards and got it to Luchuk who got to the neutral zone and sent the puck into the empty net for his 27th of the year and the game-winning tally.
Both Williams, who made 17 saves on 19 shots, and Windsor, who stopped 21 of 23, played well enough to win. Each made a number of great saves during the game to keep the score close to the end. Neither team scored with the power play as Orlando went 0-for-1 while Jacksonville was 0-for-3.
Contact the photojournalist at trina.kirk@prohockeynews.com
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.