NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – In the wake of a tough loss to Norfolk on Friday, the Orlando Solar Bears hit the road for the first time in the 2019-20 season, looking for revenge as well as their first win of the new campaign. When the final buzzer sounded at the North Charleston Coliseum, the visitors from Central Florida came away with neither.
Led by a goal and an assist from both Andrew Cherniwchan, Dan DeSalvo and Mark Cooper, the host South Carolina Stingrays (3-0-0-0) dealt Orlando another 4-2 loss. The Solar Bears fell to 0-3-0-0 on the young season with a home-and-home set with the unbeaten Florida Everblades coming next weekend.
Chris LeBlanc scored for the second consecutive night and rookie Ryan Lohin netted his first professional goal to lead Orlando while goalie Spencer Martin stopped 34 of 38 shots in suffering his second loss of the year.
Undisciplined hockey got the Solar Bears in trouble almost from the opening puck drop. A delay of game penalty to defenseman Taylor Doherty just seven seconds put Orlando down a man early. That was followed by a double minor for high sticking to Marcus Vela at the 6:34 mark that gave the Stingrays their second and third power plays of the night.
It took South Carolina less than thirty seconds to convert on the Vela miscue. Cole Ully hit the backboards with a shot but the carom came right out in front of the Orlando net. Martin was not able to corral the puck before Cooper slid it under him for his second goal of the season.
Unlike the previous meeting between the teams a week ago in the City Beautiful, the Solar Bears were able to respond and even the score. It came at the 15:27 mark when Brent Pedersen spun off the near side boards and backhanded a pass to the slot. Lohin, who was assigned to Orlando by the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, in one motion controlled and scooped the disc past South Carolina netminder Parker Milner for his first pro tally.
The tie score lasted all of 70 seconds as the Stingrays took the lead for good before the first frame was over. Cam Askew took a feed from former Solar Bear Max Novak and sent the puck on net. Somehow it snuck its way between Martin’s pads and crawled out behind him, hitting the goalie’s skate and going across the line. Referee Kyle Lekun signaled no goal but went to video replay to make sure and reversed, giving Askew his first tally of the season.
The Stingrays increased their lead and sent Martin to the bench just over a minute into the middle stanza. The play began with a shot by Cooper that Martin stopped. The rebound got away, starting a mad scramble at the top of the crease. Somehow DeSalvo got his stick on the puck and slid it in for his first of the season.
Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky sent backup netminder Zach Fucale over the boards to replace Martin, hoping for a spark. The move lasted all of 1:34 as Fucale had a skate blade come loose, necessitating Martin’s return to the contest. Martin finished the game from that point.
A penalty to Orlando’s Colby McAuley set South Carolina up on another power play at the 11:01 mark of the period and once again the Stingrays made the visitors pay. This time it was Cherniwchan who did the damage, rifling a shot from the faceoff circle over Martin for his second in as many nights and a commanding 4-1 lead.
The Solar Bears started to chip away at their deficit, picking up a tally from LeBlanc with less than five minutes to go before the intermission. LeBlanc created a turnover at center ice and quickly carried the puck into the Stingrays’ defensive zone. Seeing a shooting lane, he fired a laser that beat Milner to the far side of the cage for his second in as many games to make it 4-2.
The Solar Bears needed a big comeback in the third period but it was not meant to be. Orlando had a tough time creating offense as South Carolina played a solid defensive frame, limiting the visitors to just five shots. Milner (26 saves) held the fort, turning back two Orlando power plays during the period to lock up his second win of the year.
Notes: Final shots were 38-28 in favor of South Carolina… The Solar Bears went 0-for-2 on the power play while the Stingrays were 2-for-6… In its first three games, Orlando’s man advantage units have just one goal in eleven chances while the penalty killers have allowed four goals in sixteen times short… Orlando’s Fucale faced no shots during his 1:34 in net replacing Martin… The Solar Bears are off until Friday when Florida hits the Amway Center for a 7 p.m. start. The two teams will then head to Estero on Saturday for game two of their season series.
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