Rawlyk helps Gladiators chop down Solar Bears

ORLANDO, FLA – When Orlando Solar Bears forward Joe Perry scored to set the ECHL franchise’s single season record for goals in a season, he and his teammates thought it would be the push they needed to get an important win Friday night. Unfortunately for them, another former teammate to a handful of this crop of Solar Bears was ready to write a totally different ending.

Orlando’s Joe Perry set a new franchise record for goals in a season (28) Friday night (Photo courtesy of Gary Bassing /Orlando Solar Bears)

Rory Rawlyk, who a year ago wore the Orlando crest on his chest, scored two goals including the game-winner as the visiting Atlanta Gladiators (21-25-6-1, 49 points) stunned the host Solar Bears (27-19-6-3, 63 points) 5-4 in front of an announced crowd of 5,534 at the Amway Center. Chase Witala, Alex Gacek and Brenden Miller each scored once for Orlando but in the end it was the team who lost 4-0 on Wednesday that got the last laugh.

Because of a loss by the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in Norfolk, the Solar Bears remained tied for second place in the ECHL’s South division with 63 points each. Fourth place South Carolina (61 points) had its game in Rapid City postponed due to ice conditions while fifth place Cincinnati pulled to within three points of the Stingrays with a victory over Wichita.

“Obviously it was a tough one [loss] for us. I thought we played a pretty hard game tonight,” acting Orlando head coch John Snowden said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win. We were right there until the end.”

Playing for the second time without head coach Drake Berehowsky due to a medical emergency on Tuesday, came out a little slow but managed to get on the board first early in the opening period. The score came at the 3:49 mark when some tic-tac-toe passing between Witala, Austin Block and Gacek ended with Gacek delivering a cross-slot pass to Witala who fired it past Atlanta goalie Matt Ginn for his seventh of the season.

A spirited fight between Orlando’s Michael Turner and Atlanta’s Eric Neiley two minutes later ended up with Turner getting an extra two minutes, setting up the Gladiators on the power play. Even though they did not score, the visitors did light the goal light seven seconds after Turner returned when A.J. White’s shot was stopped by Solar Bears netminder Kasimir Kaskisuo but the rebound came right to Rawlyk who fired it home for his third of the season. Another former Solar Bear, Shane Bakker, received the secondary assist on the play.

The rest of the frame belonged to the goalies, in particular Kaskisuo who saw eleven shots in the first 8:30 of the stanza on the way to facing 18 Gladiators shots and stopping all but one. Ginn, who came on in relief in Wednesday’s contest, held the fort after Witala’s tally, finishing the period with twelve saves on thirteen shots.

A four-minute high sticking penalty on Rawlyk early in the second gave Orlando its first man advantage of the game. The Solar Bears took advantage during the first two minutes when Witala and Gacek created a two-on-one rush with Witala drawing Ginn to his side before slipping a feed to Gacek who tickled the twine in the back of the net for his 22nd of the year and 14th with Orlando.

“He’s extremely skilled. [He’s] a great skater,” Gacek said about Witala. “I think we compliment each other well with our speed and skill set. Obviously tonight it was a lot fun playing with him. I just wish we could have kept it up.”

The game began to take a bad turn for the home team late in the stanza when the Gladiators connected for two goals in a span of 1:11 to take the lead. The first came at the 14:04 mark when Justin Buzzeo broke into the Orlando defensive zone looking to make a play. He found it when Connor Gaarder, who was traded by the Solar Bears to Atlanta for goalie Jay Williams on January 12th, got past a defender to redirect Buzzeo’s pass between Kaskisuo’s legs for his seventh of the season

Moments later, Gladiators captain Derek Nesbitt fought off Orlando’s Daniel Maggio for a loose puck in front of the Solar Bears net. With nothing but time on his hands, Nesbitt ripped a shot past Kaskisuo’s blocker glove for his 19th to Atlanta a 3-2 lead – a lead the visitors took into the intermission.

“I think our d[efensive] zone coverage could have been a little bit more stable. We were running around a little bit,” Snowden said about the breakdowns. “They activated their defensemen. They did a good job. They got their defensemen active into the play. We kind of got some lost and blown coverage. That’s one thing that we’ll have to take a look at in the video and we’ll shore that up for our next game.”

The third period was controlled in its early stages by the Gladiators before the offenses combined to break out for four goals in a period of just under six minutes. Orlando began the flurry of action at the 5:43 mark when Milos Bubela carried the puck around the back of the Atlanta net. As he came around, he put a backhanded pass across the crease to Perry who knocked it in to pass Mickey Lang in the record book with his 28th tally of the season..

“I guess it’s a pretty special moment for me. Coming into this year, I probably wouldn’t have thought I would be putting up these kind of numbers,” Perry said. “It’s a proud moment for myself but obviously I coudn’t have done it without the help of my teammates. I’ve had a lot of easy goals this year [because] of great plays from my teammates. I feel pretty fortunate to play with the players I’m playing with.”

Seventeen seconds after Perry’s score, Atlanta came right back to regain the lead when Alex Guptill took advantage of a scramble in front of Kaskisuo to slide a shot across the goal line for his 13th. That lead lasted all of three minutes and 17 seconds before Gacek laid a pass back to the top of the faceoff circle to Ginn’s right when Brenden Miller put some heat on a one-time bomb that hit the back of the net for the blueliner’s ninth and a 4-4 tie.

The teams battled for another two minutes before Gladiator forward and former Solar Bear Tyler Murovich pushed the puck back to the top of the circle to Kaskisuo’s left where Rawlyk leaded into a howitzer blast that was past the netminder in the blink of an eye for his second of the game.

Orlando rallied the troops and began an assault on Ginn and the Atlanta defense in search of the game-tying score. The Gladiators were not willing to allow another goal as Ginn did everything he could to keep the puck out of the net. There were some tense moments but Atlanta was able to hold on to post the win.

Perry said that given the performance by his team on Wednesday, Friday’s loss was a frustrating one to take.

“It was definitely an emotional third period. I thought after we tied it up, we’d kind of get rolling and get that next one,” Perry said. “They played a hard game. I think we kind of gave into them a little bit and didn’t totally play our game for sixty minutes like we did the night before.”

Notes: Kaskisuo finished the night with 37 saves while Ginn stopped 42 Orlando shots… Atlanta’s power play went 0-for-3 in the contest compared to the Solar Bears’ 1-for-5… The four former Solar Bears on Atlanta’s roster – Rawlyk, Murovich, Gaarder and Bakker – ended up with a combined three goals and three assists… No further information was given on Berehowsky’s condition. Orlando fans signed four large cards with get well wishes for the coach during the game… The two teams will play the third game of the set Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.