ORLANDO, FLA – The recent scoring funk the Orlando Solar Bears has been, to say the least, frustrating. No goals in three-plus games can do that to a team. The mindset going into Tuesday’s school day morning game against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits was to just keep plugging along and the red goal light would soon start turning on.
They did manage to find the back of the net, twice to be exact. It just didn’t come with a much needed win and two important points.
Brett Kemp scored twice, including the game-winner 5:30 into overtime, as the visiting Swamp Rabbits (18-22-4-3) squeaked past the host Solar Bears (25-21-4-0) 3-2 in front of an announced crowd of 4,418 at the Amway Center. The victory gave the Swamp Rabbits a sweep of the short two-game set between the South division’s fourth place (Orlando) and fifth place (Greenville) teams.
Max Cajkovic and Tristan Langan scored the two goals for the Solar Bears with Cajkovic’s tally breaking Orlando’s scoreless run at 194:28. Langan’s was just important as it marked his 51st as a member of the team and was his 131st career Solar Bears point, putting him atop the team’s all-time points list ahead of Eric Faille who tallied 130 points in an Orlando jersey.
The question about how long it might take for Orlando to finally score came quickly. It took only 4:45 into the first period and came on a collaboration of two Tampa Bay/Syracuse-assigned players. Odeen Tufto stepped into the near side faceoff circle in the Greenville end and cleanly won the draw. It went straight back to Cajkovic who was setup at the top of the circle. He drifted a stride or two toward the high slot before unleashing a wrist shot that beat Swamp Rabbits goalie Evan Fitzpatrick high to the short side.The score was Cajkovic’s first as a member of the Solar Bears.
Soon after the first goal, some of the animosity left over from Sunday’s matchup began to rear its ugly head. There was a set of roughing penalties handed out to Greenville’s Nikita Pavlychev and Orlando’s Shawn Element followed by a slashing call on the Solar Bears Tyler Bird. Late in the power play created by the call on Bird, the teams were making changes while the puck rolled into the Swamp Rabbits end. Fitzpatrick came way out of his crease to send a pass to center ice to Liam Pecararo. Pecararo curled and skated for the Solar Bears end. He eventually lost control of the puck in the high slot but Max Zimmer, who was trailing the play, scooped up the puck and lasered a wrister past Orlando netminder Brad Barone for his 12th goal of the year and a tie score at one.
Things got nasty with less than three minutes left in the frame when Bird was hit hard by current Swamp Rabbit and one-time Solar Bear Corbin Baldwin. The hit drew the attention of Orlando’s Element who immediately challenged Baldwin to a bare knuckles battle. The fight excited the school day crowd to no end with chants of “fight. fight. fight” ringing throughout the building whenever a scrum took place.
The second period, for the most part, belonged to the goalies. Both Barone and Fitzpatrick were challenged on several occasions but they met the opposition head on.
The score remained 1-1 until a miscue by the Solar Bears turned deadly with just under three minutes left before the intermission. Playing along the defensive halfboards, Langan was pressured and tried to send the puck to a teammate behind the net. It never got there as Pavlychev made the steal and fed a pass to Pecararo in the slot. As the defense and Barone shifted to play Pecararo, he slipped a feed to Kemp who guided the puck into the open side of the cage for his first of the day and 13th of the season, giving Greenville a slim 2-1 lead after forty minutes of play.
Barone (38 saves on 41 shots faced) kept his team behind by just one whe he thwarted a golden opportunity for the Swamp Rabbits shortly after Greenville killed off a Bryce Reddick penalty. That save turned out to be huge as just past the halfway point of the final frame, Orlando found a second score.
The play began with Joe Garreffa carring the puck into the Greenville and dropping a pass to defenseman Nolan Valleau who had jumped into the action. Valleau carried down below the goal line and just before going behind the cage, he slotted a feed to the slot where Langan had found some space. Langan chipped a shot past Fitzpatrick’s catching glove for his 10th of the season, knotting the scoreboard at two and ascending to the top of the franchise’s all-time points list.
The play in the overtime was to say the least frenetic. The teams went up and down the ice at breakneck speed and the chances that were created were golden. Both Barone and Fitzpatrick (29 saves on 31 shots) were incredible as they fought tooth and nail to not allow a game-winning tally.
Following a Fitzpatrick save on Orlando’s Element, Kemp and Pavlychev bulled their way along the boards , creating a two-on-one break. Kemp attempted a pass to Pavlychev in the slot but it got too close to Barone and the goalie tried to push it away from the net. Unfortunately Pavlychev was able to reach the puck and put a shot on net. Barone made the save and a second on a backhand rebound try but that second rebound bounced to Kemp who shifted it from his backhand to forehand and shoveled it home for his second of the day and 14th of the year to secure the win.
The Solar Bears will continue their five games in six days stretch Wednesday night on the road in Jacksonville against the division-leading Icemen. Game time at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena is set for 7 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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