ORLANDO, FLA – It has been a couple of seasons – the 2015-16 season to be exact – since the Orlando Solar Bears faced the Indy Fuel either in Indianapolis or the City Beautiful. Friday night, the Fuel hit the Amway Center for the first of two back-to-back games looking to start righting the ship. 
As for the home-standing Solar Bears, they were interested in washing the taste of Thursday’s loss to Jackson by feasting on a team that has been struggling. When the final buzzer sounded, it was the visitors who skated off in a happy mood.
Four different Fuel players lit the goal light while goalie Justin Kapelmaster earned his first victory in an Indy jersey as the Fuel (20-23-2-2) downed Orlando (24-19-3-0) by a final of 4-1 in front of an announced crowd of 4,452.
Seamus Malone, Brycen Martin, Jan Mandat and Jared Thomas each tallied a goal for the visitors. Fabrizio Ricci broke up Kapelmaster’s bid for a shutout with 2:33 remaining in regulation but by then the outcome was all but decided.
Having had Thursday night off seemed to be a great help to the Fuel because they controlled much of the pace in the first period. By the time the frame was 4:07 old, Indy was outshooting Orlando 5-1 on the way to a 13-5 advantage after twenty minutes. The only thing keeping the Solar Bears in a scoreless tie was the effort shown by Barone, who was playing in his franchise record-tying 12th consecutive start.
As the second stanza began, any kind of luck that Barone and his teammates thought they had began to run out. Just 43 seconds in, the Fuel opened the scoring thanks to a favorable bounce of the puck. It came when Malone carried the biscuit across the high slot and decided to fire at the Orlando net. Barone appeared to have the shot in his sights until it hit the skate of Joe Garreffa. The carom completely fooled the goalie, who saw it go past him into the open side of the cage from where he had slid to follow the original trajectory. For Malone, it was his 13th tally of the season.
With his team again finding shots on net hard to come by, Barone had to bounce back quickly. He did just that, holding Indy at bay for the final 19 minutes of play. His best effort came with seven minutes to go before the intermission when a scramble in his crease after a shot by Jordan Schneider left a loose puck in front of Joe Widmar. As Widmar went to fire, Barone, who had his back to the shooter, swung his body and catching glove around managed to get a piece of Widmar’s attempt and send it wide of the net. The play drew a thunderous roar from the appreciative fans.
Orlando’s best scoring chance came late in the period – and it didn’t even count as a shot. Dylan Fitze got himself into shooting position and ripped a drive at the Indy net. It beat Kapelmaster cleanly but it clanged off thecrossbar near the intersection with the post. Many of the fans and the Solar Bears themselves thought it had crossed the line but it didn’t, adding to the building frustration as the home team trailed 1-0 at the break.
Hoping for a comeback, the fans watched as the Solar Bears offense, which had a mere ten shots on Kapelmaster through forty minutes, continued to struggle in the third. To make matters worse, the Fuel found a way to stretch their lead with a pair of scores.
First at the 6:34 mark, Schneider unleashed a shot from the point that got blocked on the way in. It landed close enough to Darien Craighead that he was able to make a pass to Martin who was hashmark-high in the near faceoff circle. Martin wasted no time in leaning into a hard wrist shot that beat Barone high over his right shoulder for Martin’s second of the season.
The next dagger came during a power play less than two minutes after Martin’s score. After a couple of passes between the pointmen, Keoni Texeira dropped a feed into the near circle to Spencer Watson. Watson saw an open lane and made a diagonal cross-ice pass to Mandat who was creeping into the top of the other circle. With planty of room in front of him, Mandat snapped off a wicked drive that found the back of the net for his 12th goal and a 3-0 lead for the visitors.
The Solar Bears finally broke Kapelmaster’s bid at a clean sheet late in the period. It came when a blocked shot by Michael Brodzinski came back to him in the middle of the high slot. He reloaded and this time it got through to a sea of traffic in front. Ricci, who was parked at the top of the crease, got his stick blade on the puck and got it past the Indy netminder for his fourth of the season.
Eventually Orlando pulled Barone, who made 34 saves in the contest, for a sixth attacker. Despite their desperate effort, the Solar Bears couldn’t penetrate the Fuel’s defense. It led to Malone sending Thomas away on a two-on-none that he finished with an empty net tally for his 12th and the 4-1 final.
The two teams will conclude their back-to-back set Saturday night at the Amway Center with puck drop at 7 p.m. Orlando will be celebrating those in uniform with their annual Military Appreciation Night.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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