ORLANDO, FLA – On the heels of a difficult loss on Wednesday night, the Orlando Solar Bears needed a victory against the Gwinnett Gladiators to get back on the winning track. It took a bit of extra time but the desired result came true.
Brock Montgomery scored in the sixth round of the shootout to give the Solar Bears (32-22-4-3, 71 points) a difficult 4-3 victory over the Gladiators. The win allowed Orlando to stay three points ahead of the Greenville Road Warriors for fourth place in the ECHL’s East division.
Tied through the regulation number of penalty shots, Gwinnett’s Jeff Silengo was stopped by Orlando goalie Garret Sparks. With the game on the line, Montgomery calmly moved in on Gladiators netminder Mike Lee and made a quick fake before putting a backhander into the net for the win.
“I came down and the ice was pretty heavy. I faked a shot and I was going to shoot and right as I was going to shoot I saw that he (Lee) had a pretty good angle on me,” Montgomery said about the winner. “I just took it to my backhand and put it up and over him.”
Things got off to a good start for the Solar Bears as early pressure led to the game’s first goal. It came when team captain Stefan Della Rover drove the puck into the Gladiators defensive zone. When he got into the faceoff circle, he let loose with a wicked wrist shot that beat Lee high to the short side. For Della Rovere, it was his 12th goal of the season.
The lead lasted just shy of four minutes before a familiar face came back to haunt his former team. Tyler Murovich, who was with Orlando just a couple of weeks ago before being released, deflected a shot by C.J. Chartrain past Sparks to even the score at 1-1.
Late in the frame, Orlando had a chance on the power play and regained the lead. Brett Findlay made the key play, threading a pass from below the goal line to Bryce Aneloski coming in on the back side of the play. Aneloski’s one-time shot hit the back of the net for the defenseman’s seventh of the season and a 2-1 lead for the home team.
The Solar Bears continued to rain shots on Lee in the second period but the Gwinnett netminder was on his game. It game the Gladiators offense confidence which paid off when Daniel O’Donoghue got past the Orlando defense for a break-in and goal at the 6:46 mark to even things up at two.
Neither team was able to dent the other’s goalie for the rest of the frame. Despite outshooting Gwinnett 14-8 in the period and 29-17 over two stanzas, the Solar Bears found themselves in a tie game heading to the third.
An early power play opportunity for Orlando in the final period came up empty. That was not the case a few minutes later when Gwinnett got a chance with the man advantage and the visitors cashed in. With Eric Knodel in the penalty box, Brock Higgs set up Greg Carey for his 13th goal of the season to put in front.
Orlando got another chance on the power play with just over five minutes left in regulation. Despite several good opportunities, the Solar Bears failed to get the tying goal. With the fans getting nervous, Ben Johnson sent Brett Findlay in on a breakaway. Findlay made a move from his backhand to forehand and beat Lee (45 saves) between the legs with just over two minutes left to even it up.
Gwinnett had a chance to win the game in regulation on the power play but the Solar Bears and Sparks (22 saves) held on to get the contest into overtime. In the extra period, Higgs just missed ending the game and Orlando killed the rest of the penalty. Ben Johnson and Gwinnett’s Higgs traded goals in the third round of the shootout but neither side scored in the next two rounds, setting up the dramatic sudden death set of shots.
Orlando head coach Vince Williams said that the difficulty against Gwinnett was more about what the Solar Bears did than how the Gladiators played.
“I think some of the things we did were grade A mistakes. We gave up a two-on-one, a missed assignment on a faceoff, pressing too much,” Williams said. “It’s like we’re overworking in certain areas, trying too much, pressing too much and giving up too much on the other end. We have to tighten things up.”
The Solar ears and Gladiators will continue their three-game set Saturday night at 7 pm at the Amway Center.
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