ESTERO, FLA – The Orlando Solar Bears wanted badly to hand the Florida Everblades a loss at Hertz Arena to cap a relatively solid seven-game road trip. With the taste of a one-goal loss on Wednesday night to their in-state rival in their mouths, the Solar Bears played a very good game at both ends of the ice, only to suffer another agonizing loss.
Brad McClure’s goal 1:37 into overtime lifted the host Everblades (18-5-0-1) to a 3-2 win over Orlando (11-9-2-0) in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 3,360. Florida goalie Jake Hildebrand outdueled Solar Bears netminder Michael Lackey, stopping 23 of 25 Orlando shots while Lackey fended off 27 of 30 Everblades attempts on net.
Forward Jake Coughler was the offensive star for the boys from the City Beautiful, netting a pair of goals in the first period, the first setting a franchise record for quickest goal to start a game. It was not enough to stave off defeat as the Solar Bears lost to the Everblades for the ninth time in twelve meetings this season.
The game-winner from McClure, his first since joining the Florida lineup on Monday, came during a frenetic extra period. After his team missed on a two-on-one break, Everblades defenseman Matt Petgrave poke-checked the puck away from Orlando’s Aaron Luchuk on an odd-man rush. Petgrave and Levko Koper busted out on a two-on-one of their own with McClure trailing to make it a three-on-one advantage. Petgrave sent the puck to Koper who quickly returned it. Petgrave then dropped a feed to McClure who had time to pick the top corner past Lackey’s glove hand to send the Solar Bears back home with only one point.
No one would have expected the defensive struggle that ensued based on how wild the first 4:04 of the contest played out. Just 14 seconds after the opening faceoff, Orlando put a fierce forecheck on the Everblades with Tristin Langan forcing a turnover deep in enemy territory. He got the puck to Luchuk behind the net and Luchuk proceeded to hook a shot around the post on Hildebrand. The Florida goalie made the stop but Coughler was there to bang home the rebound for his seventh goal of the season.
It took less than three minutes for the Everblades to tie things up. Joe Pendenza cleanly won an offensive zone faceoff back to Cole MacDonald at the point. MacDonald laid a perfect pass for Cody Sol to step into a screaming one-time rocket that zipped into the upper corner of the cage for his second of the season at 3:02.
Not to be outdone, the Solar Bears came right back and regained the lead at 4:04 when Langan and Coughler both made great individual efforts to create a tally. Langan started it when he forced the puck out of his defensive end. He proceeded to catch up with the disc, beating two Everblades opponents to gain control and push it into the Florida end. Coughler turned on the jets and retrieved it, beating two more defenders in the process. Hildebrand was the last line of defense but Coughler was able to avoid the goalie’s attempt to poke it away and netted his second of the period and eighth of the season to give Orlando a 2-1 lead.
The lead held into the first intermission thanks to Lackey. The rookie netminder was able to deny eleven of the twelve shots put on him by the Everblades in the opening frame.
The visitors nearly doubled their lead three minutes into the middle frame when Tad Kozun got loose for a shot that beat Hildebrand but clanged off the post. That miss would haunt the Solar Bears when at the 9:01 mark of the period, the Everblades tied things up.
Florida was putting some pressure on the Orlando defense when Sol ripped a shot high and over the Solar Bears net. Luke Nogard tracked the puck down and threaded a pass to the top of the crease when Everblades captain John McCarron was carving out some open space. A hole opened up, allowing McCarron to shovel a backhander past Lackey for his eleventh tally of the year.
Tempers heated up late in the stanza when Orlando’s Zack Andrusiak and Kozun got into a two-on-two tussle with Florida’s Stefan LeBlanc and Marcus Vela. The Solar Bears came out of the scrum with a power play but did not convert, taking the tie game into the final period.
Both defenses tightened up in the third period, knowing that one mistake could be the difference between a win and a loss. The Solar Bears only mustered five shots on Hildebrand, two coming early in rapid succession off the sticks of J.J. Piccinich and Tyler Bird but Hildebrand made the stops. Lackey was only slightly busier, having to fend off six Everblades chances, including one by McClure in the final minute that could have won the game had the rookie cager not made a great save.
The work by the goalies set up the extra seven minutes, the third time that the Solar Bears and Everblades had gone beyond regulation against each other. For all of the up and down action and odd-man chances, there was only one shot on net – the shot by McClure that ended the night.
The teams will travel back to Orlando for a third straight meeting on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Amway Center. The Solar Bears, in celebration of Black History Month, will wear special warmup jerseys honoring Willie O’Ree, the first player of color to play in the NHL. The jerseys, which will bear O’Ree’s name and number (22), will be auctioned off with proceeds benefitting the Parramore Kidz Zone. The auction will run from 6 p.m. Saturday night until 8 p.m. on March 3rd. Fans can join the auction by going to orlandosolarbearshockey.com/willie
Notes: Final shots were 30-25 in favor of Florida… There were a total of four power plays in the game with each side going 0-for-2 in the contest… Coughler’s goal 14 seconds in was two seconds quicker that the previous mark of 16 seconds set by Michael Turner on December 16, 2017 against Norfolk… Langan (1 goal, 7 assists) and Luchuk (2 goals, 3 assists) extended their personal point streaks to four games… Florida improved its overtime/shootout record against Orlando to 2-1. Orlando’s win came in a shootout on February 5th in Estero… The Solar Bears are now 3-7-2-0 against the Everblades this season.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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