ESTERO, FLA – On Thursday night at home, the Orlando Solar Bears came from behind to sneak past the Atlanta Gladiators. Twenty-four hours later, they were in Estero looking to wrap up the road part of their 2018-19 ECHL regular season with a win over the Florida Everblades. The Solar Bears even took a two goal lead less than halfway through the first period.
It seemed that the hockey gods might be smiling on the boys from Central Florida but in the end, what the hockey gods giveth, they can taketh away just as quickly.
Michael Downing scored his first goal of the season during a power play with 1:58 left in overtime to give the host Everblades (49-16-5-1, 104 points) a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Solar Bears (40-25-5-1, 86 points) in front of an announced crowd of 6,623 at the Hertz Arena. Mathieu Foget and Mike Monfredo lit the goal light for Orlando and goalie Clint Windsor made 32 saves but it was not enough to overcome the best team in the Eastern Conference and the South Division.
With neither team having anything to really play for – even what seemed like an annual meeting in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs – the usual end-of-season message sending and general animosity was in question until the mid stages of the first period. What took its place was a battle between Windsor and Florida netminder Jeremy Helvig between the pipes at either end of the ice.
Windsor was the first of the two to be tested. He faced three Everblades shots in the first 3:12 of the first period and then two more in the initial 40 seconds of a Florida power play. His rock solid play begat the game’s opening tally when Solar Bears defenseman Rob Mann picked off the puck in the corner of his own end and flung it up the middle toward the blueline. It was the perfect play as Foget was waiting for the disc and sped off on a clean breakaway. Once in the Everblades end, he made a forehand fake and went to his backhand to roof a shot over Helvig at the 4:17 mark of the frame. For Foget it was his 21st goal of the season – 20th in an Orlando uniform – as well as being his team-leading fourth short-handed goal of the year.
The Everblades continued to push hard but it seemed like that just steeled Windsor’s resolve to frustrate the home team. That frustration increased just before the ten minute mark of the frame when the Solar Bears struck again. This time it was Shaquille Merasty who started it by sending the puck back to the point along the far boards in the Florida end. Monfredo hustled to keep it in the zone and finding some room, fired a shot at the net. There was traffic in front of Helvig that may have distracted the netminder as the puck sailed past him for Monfredo’s 8th goal of the season and a 2-0 lead for the visitors.
The first eruption of bad blood came two minutes later when Orlando defenseman Alexander Kuqali and Florida’s Slater Doggett dropped the gloves in a battle in front of the Everblades bench. The fight brought the home crowd back into the game, providing a surge of energy for the Everblades.
Late in the period, Florida went on its third power play of the game and finally hit paydirt. After working the puck around the Orlando end with some crisp passing, Sam Warning got a wide open seam and laid a perfect cross-ice pass to the faceoff circle to Windsor’s right. Waiting there was Alex Tonge who nailed a blazing one-timer that beat the Solar Bears goalie for Tonge’s 4th of the season and a 2-1 lead for Orlando after one.
Buoyed by the Tonge tally and a 17-5 shot advantage in the opening stanza, the Everblades began the middle frame just as they had the first. Less than a minute in, Tonge had a golden opportunity to net his second of the game but Windsor went post-to-post to rob the Florida forward.
The home team continued its pressure and was able to pull even at the 3:44 point of the frame. A foray into the Solar Bears end on an odd-man rush led to a rebound shot by Tonge. Windsor stopped that one but Blake Winiecki was there to deposit the loose puck home for his 25th of the year.
The rest of the second period was a back-and-forth affair with the goalies taking a starring role. With Windsor and Helvig on point, there was little going on until with less than two minutes remaining, Solar Bears veteran defenseman Akim Aliu went to-to-toe with Everblades enforcer Mitch Vandergunst. After several blows were traded between the two, Vandergunst and Aliu went to the ice with the burly Florida forward on top. Vandergunst was given an instigating minor that put the Solar Bears on the power play but Helvig stopped all five shots he faced to send the game to the break tied at 2-2.
The final period of regulation was yet another evenly played struggle as the teams combined for 19 shots on net but none found their way into the back of the net. Florida had two chances with the man advantage in the frame while Orlando had one – all three failed to yield a difference-making score.
It was then off to overtime where Orlando had an early chance to win it on a power play when Florida’s Ben Masaella was caught for interference but mustered just one shot that Helvig (22 saves) turned away. The man advantage was cut short by a Solar Bears penalty to Colby McAuley who was hit for slashing in a confrontation with Helvig. When the four-on-four ended, the Everblades went up a man and that was when Downing got loose in the slot and beat Windsor to end the game with 1:58 to go before a potential shootout.
Both teams have one game left in the regular season. Florida will host Jacksonville on Saturday night while Orlando will wait until Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. for the Icemen to invade the Amway Center in what could be a preview of the first round of the post-season that starts next Wednesday.
Notes: Final shots were 35-24 in favor of Florida… The Solar Bears went 0-for-5 on the power play while the Everblades finished 2-for-6… Orlando finished its road schedule with a record of 20-12-4-0 to set a new franchise mark for wins and points earned on the road… Monfredo’s goal was his 50th career point with the Solar Bears (15 goals, 35 assists) and equaled his career high for tallies in a season that he accomplished twice while with Quad City (2013-14 and 2014-15)… The team finished the season series with identical 6-3-2-1 records. The Solar Bears won the goal differential battle, outscoring the Everblades 44-41.
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