Johnny McInnis’ short-handed goal was the difference in Orlando’s win Thursday night (Photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing / Orlando Solar Bears)
ORLANDO, FLA – In the wake of Wednesday night’s loss to the Indy Fuel, Orlando Solar Bears head coach Anthony Noreen challenged his team to take the game to the Fuel and not let the opposition dictate the tempo of Thursday’s rematch. Based on the results, Noreen might want to remember what he said because it worked wonders.
The Solar Bears (23-20-2-4, 52 points) parlayed two first period goals and a special teams tally in the third period into a 3-2 win over the Fuel (25-26-2-0, 52 points) in front of a crowd of 4,483 at the Amway Center. Johnny McInnis’ short-handed score proved to be the winner as goalie Rob Madore made 43 saves to seal the victory.
“I thought we did a really good job of setting the tone. That was really all our message was the last day or so here was let’s make sure we set the tone [and] get the game going our way,” Noreen said following the win. “I thought we did a really good job in that first period of getting pucks behind them, getting on bodies, winning those puck races and that’s what the result was [a win].”
Noreen’s mantra all season has been getting out to quick starts and playing from in front will lead to wins. The season stats illustrated that perfectly: through the first 48 games when leading after one period, the Solar Bears had a record of 14-1-1-0 as opposed to a 5-11-0-4 mark when trailing after the opening frame.
Orlando thought it had the perfect start when Erik Bradford knocked a puck out of mid air past Indy goalie Shane Owen during a very early power play. Unfortunately the score was waived off as referee Andrew Wilk ruled that Bradford’s stick was above the crossbar when it hit the puck.
The teams went back and forth pounding shots on each other’s net. Owen and his counterpart, Orlando netminder Rob Madore, held things scoreless until the 11:28 mark of the opening frame when the host Solar Bears struck first.
The play started when defenseman Max Nucastro took the puck at the point and drilled one of his hard, heavy shots at Owen. The goalie made the first save but the rebound came out to the slot where Brady Vail took control, spun around and fired it home for his third goal in two games and his sixteenth of the season.
“My line’s (Vail, Nicklas Lindberg and Jack Rodewald) been playing well. It took us a couple of games to start clicking but recently we’ve been really finding a groove,” Vail said. “I’m just happy to be putting it in.”
Vail’s goal was a product of being in the right place at the right time. Late in the period, the Solar Bears used pure skill to double their lead. It came when Patrick Watling and Austin Block turned an Indy defenseman inside out with a series of back-and-forth passes. Watling’s final pass set up Block for a tap in goal into the open side of the net. The tally was Block’s first in an Orlando uniform while Watling’s helper was his second in as many nights.
Trailing by two after one, the Fuel dug in and peppered Madore with a flurry of shots in the middle frame. Six came on an early-period power play and by the midpoint of the period, the visitors had a 13-2 advantage.
With less than three minutes left before the intermission, the Fuel finally got onnthe board. Cody Sharib drove the puck into the face off circle to Madore’s right. He waited and finally sent a pass across the slot to Alex Lavoie who redirected the puck into the back of the net for his twelfth of the year.
The score remained 2-1 Orlando until the middle of the final stanza. With Eric Faille in the box, McInnis took advantage of an Indy miscue to break out all alone. As a defender began to close in, McInnis ripped a hard wrist shot that beat Owen (44 saves) high to the glove side. It was the Orlando forward’s fifteenth of the season and second shirt-handed tally. The goal also tied the Solar Bears with Fort Wayne and Utah for most short-handed goals (10).
The goal was an exclamation point on a perfect night on the penalty kill for Orlando. The Solar Bears held the Fuel scoreless in three chances after allowing two man-advantage tallies on Wednesday.
“Lately our PK (penalty killing) has kind of struggled a little bit. Other than tonight we’ve given up a few goals lately,” McInnis said. “When our PK is going, teams are afraid of our PK because we have so much speed and we’ve scored some short-handed goals. If we’re a threat, they’re thinking about that all the time and that takes away from their game.”
Sharib pulled the Fuel within one with 3:13 left in regulation when he blasted his eleventh into the back of the net. It would be as close as the visitors would get as Madore slammed the door shut on Indy’s thoughts of a comeback down the stretch.
Noreen praised Madore, who was named the game’s first star, for making all the necessary saves to give his team the chance to pick up its sixth win in seven games.
“I thought Rob was tremendous. [He] made all the saves he was supposed to make,” Noreen said. “He’s so competitive [that] he comes in [and] he wants the second one back even though we won the game. That’s what you love about him.”
After a day off, the two teams will complete their three-game series Saturday night in Orlando.
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