ORLANDO, FLA – Over the last twelve days, the Orlando Solar Bears have gotten big performances from individual players or specific lines as they have gotten red hot, winning four of their previous five games. Monday night at the Amway Center, it seemed like the entire team was in a mood to put up points, especially the rookies sent down by the Toronto Marlies.
Rookie Tony Cameranesi had the deciding goal for the second straight game on Monday (Photo courtesy of Gary Bassing / Orlando Solar Bears)
Tony Cameranesi picked up his second consecutive game-deciding goal and an assist to lead ten players in the scoring column as the Solar Bears (10-5-2-0, 22 points) held on for a 5-4 victory over the Brampton Beast (7-6-1-2, 17 points) in front of an announced crowd of 3,445. The win was Orlando’s third straight over their opponents from Canada and fourth overall, bringing its record on its current ten-game homestand to 6-2-1-0 with one more contest remaining.
“We always want to spread everything out. Like I told you guys from day one, we don’t have a first, second or third line,” Solar Bears head coach Drake Berehowsky said. “All the guys are going to contribute – all ten forwards, all six defensemen, the goalies. Everybody contributes here and that’s the way we want to play.”
Hungry for a sweep of the three-game set against a talented Beast squad, the Solar Bears began the game fast and furious, pressuring Brampton goalie Andrew D’Agostini from the opening faceoff. Eric Faille clanged a shot off the post less than a minute in and the shots kept coming.
The up-tempo push paid off quickly as Orlando jumped on the scoreboard just 2:42 into the first period.During a line change, Austin Block sent a pass forward to Cameranesi who drove into the Beast defensive zone with fellow rookie Mason Marchment creating an odd-man rush. Cameranesi drew the defenseman toward him and delivered a pass to Marchment who scooped the puck up and over D’Agostini for his second goal in three games.
“We were going down on a two-on-one [and] he (Cameranesi) made a nice pass,” Marchment said when asked to describe his tally. “I just got the goalie to bite and put it in.”
Less than two minutes later, the Solar Bears were killing a penalty when a shot block turned into a scoring opportunity. Faille outraced a defender to the puck as it skidded through center ice, giving him a clean breakaway. Faille put a move on D’Agostini and slid the puck between his legs for his sixth goal and the team’s fourth short-handed score of the season (Faille has two of the four).
At the other end, Orlando goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo – who was making his first start since November 21st – was having a rocking chair evening as he faced just two shots in the first ten minutes of the opening frame. That changed quickly when the Beast mounted a counterattack and got on the board. Connor Crisp did the honors, banging home the rebound of a Tim Billingsley shot that dropped behind Kaskisuo at the 12:02 mark of the period. For Crisp, it was his third goal of the season.
Two minutes later, Brampton was back on the power play and this time the visitors used the advantage to tie the score. David Vallorani fed the puck to the net where Crisp forced Kaskisuo to make a save. The rebound came out to the top of the crease where David Pacan swept it into the net for his ninth of the year. Pacan’s score allowed the Beast to take the game into the first intermission even at 2-2.
Much of the second period was played like a playoff-style defensive battle with shots being few and far between. The goalies were perfect until the final minute when Orlando’s Chris Crane darted into the Brampton end on the right wing before firing a perfect shot bewteen the near side post, the crossbar and D’Agostini’s left shoulder for his fifth of the season and second since joining the Orlando roster. The tally gave the Solar Bears a bit of momentum as they took a 3-2 lead into the final period.
That momentum was taken away by the resilient Beast in the first minute of the final frame. Eleven seconds in, Orlando’s Patrick Watling took a high sticking penalty and Brampton made the home team pay when Mike Vernace set up Crisp put a backhander past Kaskisuo for his second of the game and fourth of the season just 41 seconds in.
The tie lasted a little over four minutes before the Solar Bears once again proved they are a third period team. At the 5:27 mark, Brett Findlay worked the side boards in the Beast end, getting the puck and feeding a pass to Joe Perry below the goal line. Perry quickly turned and zipped a pass to the slot where Denver Manderson rifled it home for his seventh of the season and a 4-3 Orlando lead.
Manderson’s goal lit a fire under the Orlando team and 49 seconds later, the lead ballooned to two once again. This time, defenseman Taylor Doherty dropped the puck to Patrick Watling in the corner to D’Agostini’s left. Watling saw Cameranesi steaming through the faceoff circle and put a pass on the rookie’s tape. Cameranesi took a stride and unleashed a wicked wrist shot that beat the goalie’s catching glove cleanly for his sixth goal of the year at the 6:16 mark.
“Coach had been stressing having a high third forward and getting lost [in the play]. I stayed up a little high and Watty (Watling) made a great pass to me,” Cameranesi said. “As I kind of started moving in, I realized I was a little in tight so I tried to make one move and get it up [high] and I was fortunate enough to have it go in.”
Three minutes after Cameranesi’s score, Pacan pulled the Beast back within one with a great individual move. He took the puck in his own end and proceeded to bust into the Orlando end, turn a defenseman and put a shot through Kaskisuo’s pads for his second of the night and tenth of the season.
The Beast picked up the pace after the Pacan goal, making Orlando’s rookie netminder work for just about every save he made. The Solar Bears matched Brampton’s push with several forays down the other end. A late penalty to Marchment gave the visitors hope for a tying power play score but when Vernace was forced to haul down Findlay to save a clinching goal, that chance went out the window and the Solar Bears hung on to get the win.
Berehowsky said afterwards that he was very pleased with how his troops battled against a team that they were facing for the third time in just five days.
“The guys worked hard. They came out and showed a lot of character and they persevered,” he said. “It’s tough going into a third game [with the same team]. We knew it would be a battle. Brampton came out hard and we came out hard. It was another great game.”
Notes: Orlando outshot Brampton 37-31 in the contest… Kaskisuo made 27 saves in picking up his first win since shutting out South Carolina on November 12th while D’Agostini stopped 32 shots in suffering the loss… The Solar Bears are now 5-0-1-0 under Berehowsky since he took over the reigns… Vallorani’s assist on Pacan’s first score upped his point streak to seven games… Faille extended his point streak to four games as did Doherty while Cameranesi and Marchment both pushed their point streaks to three games… The Solar Bears will finish the homestand on Friday when the South division leading Florida Everblades come to the Amway Center for game two of this year’s Wawa Sunshine Cup series. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.