ESTERO, FLA – Heading into Wednesday night’s game at Germain Arena, the Orlando Solar Bears had two notable statistics that needed to be corrected: a 0-for-34 run on the power play against the Florida Everblades and an 0-3 record in southwest Florida. Both of the marks fell but not exactly in a way that the visitors from Central Florida had hoped.
Despite erasing two one-goal deficits and finally scoring a power play goal, Orlando (24-18-6-2, 56 points) fell to the host Everblades (33-9-2-3, 71 points) 3-2 in overtime in front of an announced crowd of 5,349. Ben Danford and Milos Bubela scored the two goals for the Solar Bears, who got a 33-save effort from goalie Ryan Massa in the loss.
Meeting for the first time since January 21st, the Solar Bears and Everblades put on an offensive show in the first period of the contest, combining for 27 shots on net. The teams took turns coming in waves as the Everblades controlled the action early while the Solar Bears piled up shots during the middle portion of the frame. Late in the period, a pair of overlapping penalties gave Florida 1:32 of five-on-three power play time but Massa held the fort, including a stretch of time when he was without his goal stick. At the other end, Everblades netminder Anthony Peters equaled Massa’s shut out work by keeping Orlando from denting the scoreboard.
After starting the game 0-for-3 with the man advantage, Orlando found itself with an even better chance six minutes into the second period. It came when the Everblades Curt Gogol clocked Solar Bears forward Austin Block following a stoppage in play. Gogol was given a five-minute fighting major and a game misconduct for being the aggressor while Block did not receive a penalty. Despite the long advantage, the Solar Bears failed to score.
Florida opened the scoring at the 15:22 mark of the middle frame thanks to a power play of its own. The play came about when John McCarron moved the puck along the goal line before throwing it toward the front of the net. Once it gotthere, it hit the skate of Evan Bloodoff and bounced between Massa’s legs and in for Bloodoff’s sixth goal of the season.
A little under three minutes later, the Solar Bears responded with a goal of their own. Alex Gacek made the key play, picking off a pass in the Florida end. Danford saw Gacek and made a beeline for the slot where he took a pass from Gacek and fired the puck home for his fifth of the year.
The Everblades came up with their own answer to Danford’s tally just 31 seconds later. Mike Ferrantino busted down the left wing into the Orlando end, took a pass from Clark Bishop and beat Massa with a shot to his blocker side for his ninth goal and a 2-1 Florida lead after two.
Orlando came out hard and heavy in the third period, putting a lot of pressure on Peters and the Everblades defense. Eventually it led the Solar Bears fifth man advantage of the contest. Less than a minute into the power play, Shane Conacher put a pass to the left corner of the net where Bubela was waiting to collect it and beat Peters for his second goal as a Solar Bear and the first Orlando power play tally against Florida.
With the score tied, both teams again took turns pounding away at the other’s goalie. Massa and Peters were rock solid down the stretch, keeping the opposition off the board and sending the game to overtime.
In the extra period, Zack Kamrass got himself in perfect position in the slot to take a feed from Matt Berry and fired the puck between the legs of Massa for his fourth goal of the season and the game-winner.
Notes: With the win, Florida improved its record to 7-2 against Orlando this season… Orlando Jon Jutzi returned to the lineup after being activated from the injured reserve list earlier in the day… Orlando headed home after the game to begin a ten-game homestand against the Norfolk Admirals Thursday night a 7 p.m.
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