ORLANDO, FL – Heading into Thursday night’s rematch with the Norfolk Admirals, the Orlando Solar Bears offense had yet to be blanked in any of the first 28 games during the 2017-18 ECHL regular season. Sure, there were games in which the Solar Bears struggled to find the back of the net but they always seemed to be able to score at least once in every contest.
Orlando goalie Mackenzie Skapski makes one of his 26 saves in Thursday night’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
That was until Ty Reichenbach and his Norfolk teammates found a way to completely frustrate Orlando’s men of winter.
Reichenbach made 43 saves while Alex Pompeo and Grant Besse lit the goal light once each as the visiting Admirals (10-17-1-0, 21 points) shut out the Solar Bears (11-14-4-0, 26 points) 2-0 in front of an announced crowd of 4,639 at the Amway Center. The loss came despite the performance of Orlando netminder Mackenzie Skapski, who turned away 26 shots in a valiant effort to will his team to a victory.
“I thought we played well but we just couldn’t score. It’s frustrating but I was proud of the effort the guys put out today, especially compared to the one we did the other night (Wednesday’s 5-3 loss),” Solar Bears head coach Drake Berehowsky said. “It’s tough [but] we’ve just got to stick with it and hopefully we’le be able to start putting some pucks in the back of the net.”
Trying to avenge the loss from the night before, Berehowsky turned to Skapski, who has played better than his 1-5-2 record indicated of late heading into Thursday’s contest. If the Solar Bears had any better luck than they did, Skapski would have been the difference maker.
It also might have made a difference if the Solar Bears had cashed in on even one of their six power play attempts during the game.
“He gave us an opportunity to win. He made some big saves for us,” Berehowsky said about his netminder. “Like I said, we have to do a better job of dialing it in a little bit more and putting some pucks in the back of the net.”
From the outset, Thursday’s contest was a bit more edgy than the battle the night before. It took just 2:15 of playing time before Orlando’s Michael Turner and Norfolk’s Mitch Vandergunst dropped the gloves and duked it out. Each combatant landed a few shots before the officials stepped in.
Orlando’s Joe Perry (right) tries to get away from a Norfolk defender (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina /Orlando Solar Bears)
A second bout broke out in the back half of the opening frame when Solar Bears defenseman Alex Gudbranson had a go with the Admirals (and former Orlando teammate) Kenton Helgesen. Gudbranson picked up an extra minor penalty but nothing came of the ensuing man advantage.
In between the fistacuffs, both Reichenbach and Skapski were rock solid.The Orlando goalie was especially tough late in the frame when he thwarted a pair of back-to-back opportunities, the second coming on a rebound by Michael Young in close. It was the work of the men behind the masks that kept the scoreboard clean at 0-0 at the end of one.
Reichenbach did his best imitation of Skapski early in the second when he turned away two shots by Solar Bears forward Mackenzie Braid,who was just back in the lineup after being activated off the injured reserve list earlier in the day. He would later steal a sure goal away from Max Novak on the way to a 17-save middle frame.
At the other end of the ice, the Admirals finally found a way to dent Skapski’s armor but how the opportunity came about had the home crowd a bit upset. At the 13:20 mark of the period, the referee had a delayed penalty coming on Novak. After Orlando got control and play was stopped, Solar Bears forward Joe Perry confronted a Norfolk opponent in an attempt to draw a penalty to even up the sides. Instead of getting a call to go against the Admirals, Perry found himself in the box as Orlando faced killing off a full two minutes of a five-on-three power play for the visitors.
Solar Bears goalie Mackenzie Skapski thwarts a Norfolk scoring attempt (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
The Solar Bears penalty killers did a terrific job of holding Norfolk at bay, not letting the Admirals get set up or putting a shot on Skapski. Finally with three seconds left on the advantage, the puck took a bounce out toward the top of the slot area. Pompeo skated in from his point position, gained control and fired a shot through a screen that zipped over Skapski’s stick side shoulder and into the top corner of the net. For Pompeo, it was his second goal of the season.
“It’s tough to have a game decided on that kind of call in the middle of the second period,” Skapski said about situation that led to the two-man advantage for the Admirals.
The early stages of the final frame looked like a parade to the sin bin as three calls in the first 8:36 of the third period slowed the flow of play. Skapski was still on his game, keeping the Solar Bears within one when he went post-to-post to take a sure score away from Besse.
At the other end, Reichenbach was still perfect as he maintained his composure even with Orlando unloading on him at a steady pace. He was solid and steady, exactly what Norfolk head coach Robbie Ftorek needed out of his netminder.
Berehowsky pulled Skapski with 1:27 to go in regulation and called his one timeout with 1:11 to go in hopes of coming up with a game-tying play. That play never came and Besse closed things out with his second empty net tally in as many nights for his 13th goal of the season with 11.6 ticks left on the clock.
The frustration on the faces of the Solar Bears staff and players was evident in the post-game. Team captain Sean Zimmerman chalked up the night to just not getting the luck of the draw but said he felt like Orlando had done enough to win.
“We worked hard and I thought we deserved to win but having this kind of rough streak like we’re in right now, confidence is probably not at its highest,” Zimmerman said. “We definately had our chances. I thought we deserved to win but it just didn’t go our way.”
Notes: Final shots in the game favored Orlando 43-28… Norfolk had six man advantage opportunities like the Solar Bears did with Pompeo’s tally being the only special teams goal in the game… The Admirals have now take three out of the four meetings between the two teams. One game remains in the set of five between the South division opponents, Saturday night’s tilt at the Amway Center. Game time for the Solar Bears Teddy Bear Toss game is slated for 7 p.m.
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