NORFOLK, VA – Giving up two goals in a span of nine seconds can be a morale buster for a hockey team. Doing it in the first period makes it even worse but the good thing about that is it leaves a lot of time for a comeback.
Saturday night at The Scope in Norfolk, the Orlando Solar Bear found a way to claw back from behind and used some extra time to pick up a win.
Michael Brodzinski and Mitch Hults scored on consecutive shots in the shootout while Corbin Boes made 32 saves in regulation and overtime plus two more in the skills competition to give the visiting Solar Bears (19-15-3-0) a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Norfolk Admirals (15-19-2-3) in front of an announced crowd of 5,267. Mike Robinson, Mathieu Foget, Mike Monfredo and Hults scored in regulation while Trevor Olson recodrded three assists to lead the way as Orlando jumped over Jacksonville into third place in the ECHL’s South division.
Brodzinski, who along with Cody Donaghey met the Solar Bears in Norfolk after being reassigned by San Jose earlier in the day, and Hults lit the goal light in the shootout on very similar shots. Brodzinski drove in on Admirals netminder Ty Reichenbach and faked a backhand move before going forehand to the top corner of the net. On the next shot, Hults, a Tampa Bay prospect, faked a forehand shot and quickly changed to his backhand and hit the exact same spot to put the game away.
The arrival of Brodzinski and Donaghey was well timed as defenseman Rob Mann appeared to have been injured in Friday night’s contest, leaving Orlando a blueliner short. The pair, who had been called up on Monday, fit right back in and had an immediate impact.
The Solar Bears were their own worst enemy in the first period, taking three penalties in the first 3:30 of the opening frame. Norfolk was able to cash in one the first infraction when Connor Hurley threraded a pass from below the goal line to Kelly Klima who one-timed a shot past Boes for his third of the season at 2:13.
Orlando was able to return the favor on the Admirals first infraction of the contest. At the 7:29 mark, Brodzinski sent the puck into the slot area where Foget deftly redirected it behind Reichenbach for his eleventh goal of the season with ten coming with Orlando.
A too many men on the ice call against the visitors at 11:35 of the stanza once again paid dividends for the Admirals as they scored their second man advantage tally. It was actually a stroke of luck as Ben Duffy, who haunted the Solar Bears in all three games between the teams, saw his cross-ice pass attempt to Hurley hit a defenseman and agonizingly slide past Boes’ left skate for Duffy’s tenth of the season.
Just seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Donaghey was victimized by a faulty stick. The broken twig led to a steal by Taylor Cammarata who in turn set up former Solar Bear Chris Crane for a shot that nestled into the back of the net for the veteran’s eleventh of the year.
With just under six minutes left in the period, the Solar Bears went to a power play and were able to convert for the second time in the frame. It came at the 14:31 mark when Donaghey set up Hults for a one-time blast from the faceoff dot to Reichenbach’s left that was past the goalie in the blink of an eye. The Steven Stamkos-like tally was Hults’ sixth of the season and pulled Orlando within 3-2 at the end of one.
The momentum provided by Hults’ goal carried over into the second period and the Solar Bears took full advantage. Just 2:30 into the frame, Dylan Fitze sent the puck to the crease area where Colby McAuley put a shot on net. Although Reichenbach made that save, the rebound fell into the crease where Robinson was in position to stuff it home for his second of the season to tie the score at 3-3.
Robinson’s score was the only one of the stanza as both Boes and Reichenbach matched each other save for save for the rest of the period. Boes recorded nine saves while Reichenbach recorded eleven to keep the score knotted at three heading for the third period.
The Admirals came close to scoring early in the final frame as Boes was forced to make a key save on Duffy before Klima rang the goal post before the period was three minutes old. The missed opportunities came back to haunt the home team as the Solar Bears scored their third power play goal of the game at 5:40 when Monfredo saw his shot from the point carom off the skate of a defender and bound past a shocked Reichenbach for the Orlando captain’s fourth of the season.
It took the Admirals less than three minutes to respond to Monfredo’s tally when Matt McMorrow redirected a shot by Jalen Smereck past Boes. For McMorrow, it was his fourth of the year but more importantly it evened the score at 4-4 with more than eleven minutes left in regulation.
Less than a minute after the tying score, Smereck saw McAuley get behind him for a breakaway. At the last minute, Smereck slashed at the speedy Solar Bears forward to knock the puck loose. Referee Jacob Rekucki immediately awarded McAuley a penalty shot. McAuley failed to score on the free attempt as Reichenbach (33 saves) got his right leg pad on the puck before it could cross the goal line.
Norfolk had two more man advantage attempts – one coming in the final two minutes of regulation – to win the game but Boes came up big. The rookie goalie stoned Cammarata with 37 seconds left on the clock, a save that eventually sent the team to an extra five minutes of three-on-three overtime. The teams combined for three shots in the fourth frame, the last coming off the stick of Klima that Boes turned away with less than ten seconds to go.
In the skills competition,Boes forced Duffy to fire wide in round one before Brodzinski found the back of the net. The netminder then denied Klima in round two, setting up Hults to close out the win – Orlando’s first shootout victory of the season in its first go at the skills competition decider.
Notes: Final shots were 38-36 in favor of Orlando… The Solar Bears went 3-for-5 on the power play, the second time in a week that they netted three man advantage scores in a single contest… The Admirals were 2-for-9 with an advantage in the contest, putting their success total in back-to-back contests on Friday and Saturday at 3-for-19… Olson’s three assists were a career high and gave him a two-game point streak (1 goal, 3 assists)… Foget (seven game point), Hults (four game point), Fitze (three game point), Donaghey (three game point) and Brodzinski (two game point) also extended streaks… With the win, Orlando took a 3-2-0-0 season series lead with one game left between the two teams in Orlando in late February… The Solar Bears are off until Friday when they travel to South Carolina for a three game weekend set at the North Charleston Coliseum.
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