MANCHESTER, NH – Back on February 14th, Orlando Solar Bears head coach Anthony Noreen’s all-out strategy in overtime resulted in defenseman Eric Baier being the hero. Friday Night in Manchester, another blue liner flexed his offensive muscle and gave the Solar Bears yet another important win.
Rory Rawlyk’s second goal in a Solar Bears uniform 1:24 into the extra period gave Orlando (24-22-3-5, 56 points) a 3-2 victory over the Manchester Monarchs (35-16-2-4, 76 points) at the Verizon Wireless Arena. The win allowed the Solar Bears to leapfrog past both Kalamazoo and Greenville into tenth place in the ECHL’s Eastern conference standings.
Rawlyk’s game-winner came off of a rush up ice that followed a save by Orlando goalie Rob Madore. Patrick Watling advanced into the Monarchs defensive zone and saw Rawlyk charging hard for the front of the net. Watling’s centering pass was redirected by Rawlyk over Manchester netminder Michael Houser. It hit the crossbar and dropped straight down where it hit Houser and slid across the goal line.
Noreen and his team were making their first ever visit to New Hampshire to face the conference’s second-best squad – the same team that stormed into Orlando and won three straight contests in late January. Against the backdrop of revenge, the Solar Bears knew they needed a victory both to keep pace in the playoff hunt as well as gaining some confidence against a very tough opponent.
The Solar Bears got off to a good start, getting a solid scoring opportunity that saw Watling solidly ring the post behind Houser. Not too long after that, Orlando’s power play got a chance and connected when rookie Jack Rodewald redirected Brenden Miller’s shot from the point into the net for his 13th goal of the year.
Other than a fight between Miller and Manchester’s Josh Brown, the opening period belonged to Madore. He shut down the Monarchs offense, facing and turning away twelve shots in the frame.
Madore’s luck changed five minutes into the second. Manchester’s Joe Diamond got loose out front and when the Orlando goalie tried to cut down the angle, Diamond roofed a shot into the top corner on Madore’s glove side. The score was Diamond’s 15th of the season.
The goal could have been the beginning of a long night for the visiting Solar Bears. Instead, Orlando had an answer to the Monarchs tally. It came at the 7:03 mark when Rodewald slipped the puck back to James Martin at the point. Martin lined up and fired a shot that hit a Manchester player in front and eluded Houser (23 saves). For Martin, it was his first score in just two games played in an Orlando jersey.
Madore, who finished the game with 36 saves, looked like he was going to make Martin’s goal stand up. By the end of the middle stanza, he had faced 30 shots on net and turned away all but one. That mastery continued in the third as he and the Solar Bears defense went into lockdown mode, holding the Monarchs at bay past the midway point of the period.
Knowing its offensive capabilities and Orlando’s penchant for making mistakes at the worst possible time, Manchester stayed patient and the strategy paid off at the 10:29 mark. It came when a Solar Bears turnover led to a shot by Gasper Kopitar that Madore stopped. Tough guy Danick Paquette showed off his scoring instincts by collecting the rebound and popping it home for his tenth of the season and a tie score.
The teams tightened up their defensive postures over the remaining time in regulation to send the contest to overtime. After some early end-to-end action, Madore made a save at his end and was rewarded seconds later when Watling connected with Rawlyk for the winner.
The two teams will continue their three-game weekend series Saturday night at 7 pm in Manchester.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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