ESTERO, FLA – Every point earned in the standings these days is a crucial one with playoff spots on the line. For the Orlando Solar Bears, being on the outside looking makes getting even one point that much more important.
Saturday night at the Germain Arena, the Solar Bears needed every ounce of grit they could muster to force the Florida Everblades to a shootout before falling 6-5 on Matt Marquardt’s score in the skills competition. Still, the one point Orlando received for taking the contest beyond regulation time moved it within four points of the fourth and final East division post season berth.
If Solar Bears head coach Vince Williams still had questions as to whether Friday night’s win had signaled a turning point in effort, Saturday’s game may have proved it. Orlando (25-20-3-1, 54 points) spent most of the first two periods trailing by as many as two goals on three occasions only to come back and knot the score. Even after the Everblades went in front late in the second, the Solar Bears fought back in the third to send the game into free hockey.
Max Clermont, coming in off of Friday’s impressive performance, got his second straight start between the pipes for Orlando. Unlike the night before, the Everblades (32-11-2-4, 70 points) got to Clermont early with two goals in a seven minute span in the first. The first score came at the 6:06 mark when a weird bounce left the puck sitting on the stick of Steven Whitney who was left alone in front of the net. Whitney collected the disc and fired a wrist shot past Clermont’s glove hand for his second goal of the season. Another defensive lapse a little past the thirteen minute point of the frame allowed Mitch Wahl to feed a wide open Brant Harris on the doorstep. Harris easily shoveled the puck into the open side for his eleventh of the year.
The Solar Bears needed a response in the worst way and got it with less than two minutes to go before the intermission. Down in the Florida end, Jake Cepis got the puck to newcomer Peter Sivak. Sivak looked up and saw Ben Rosen on the backside of the play with no one near him. Sivak put a pass into Rosen’s wheelhouse and in a split second the puck was behind Florida goalie Andy Iles and in the net. For Rosen, it was his fourth goal in a Solar Bears uniform.
The second period turned out not to be safe for either netminder but it did prove just how much the game meant to the visitors. Florida pushed its lead back to two 6:16 in when Harris again was left alone and Jesse Graham set him up for his second tally of the night. Again Orlando was looking for someone to step up and this time it was Denver Manderson. Manderson took a pass from Patrick Watling and busted down the wing before getting into position to beat Iles for his thirteenth, cutting the Everblades lead to 3-2.
When Jordan Henry scored during a delayed penalty to the Solar Bears, Florida again led by two and things could have gone in a different direction. Instead, Orlando fought back with two goals in a span of 19 seconds to get right back in the game. The first came at the 17:46 mark when Iles stopped a shot from the point by Carl Nielsen. The rebound bounced out and somehow Cepis either put it in or had it kick off his body and go across the line. Either way it was goal number twelve of the season for Cepis. A few seconds later, Watling sent Johnny McInnis in on a breakaway and the former Everblades forward may his old teammates pay, evening the score with his third goal in an Orlando uniform.
Marquardt looked like he had put a dagger in the Solar Bears when he beat Clermont (24 saves) over the shoulder with just 44 seconds left in the frame. The tally, Marquardt’s seventh, gave his team a 5-4 lead heading into the final twenty minutes.
Carrying a 2-15-1 record when trailing after two periods into the third, the Solar Bears needed something to happen in a positive way. It did at the 8:46 mark when Brett Findlay fed the puck back to Max Nicastro at the point. Nicastro fired and the puck found its way through some traffic in front and past Iles (30 saves) to again tie the score. Nicastro’s second goal of the season was the final lamp lighter in regulation, sending the teams into overtime.
Both teams missed golden chances in the extra period and the game headed into a shootout. On Florida’s third shot, Marquardt came in from the right side, made a move to the backhand and then returned to his forehand and beat Clermont. It was the only score as Iles made one save and forced four other Orlando shooters into missing the net.
After playing seven games in ten days, the Solar Bears are now off until Thursday when they host the South Carolina Stingrays at the Amway Center.
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