JACKSONVILLE, FLA – There are times when as a coach, you have to roll the dice in order to get a desired result. One of those times is when you have to get a win in order to stay in a race for a playoff position. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Tuesday night at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena, the Jacksonville Icemen were in one of those times where a gamble has to be made.
Orlando goalie Clint Windsor took over the league lead in wins with 23 Tuesday night (PHN photo by Trina Kirk)
And the Orlando Solar Bears were thankful that the gamble failed to pay off.
Aaron Luchuk scored his 27th of the season late in the third period to give the Orlando Solar Bears (36-26-6-1) a 3-2 victory over host Jacksonville (33-29-3-4) in front of an announced crowd of 3,023. Tad Kozun and Tristin Langan had the other two goals and Solar Bears netminder Clint Windsor took his 23rd win of the season with 21 saves, giving him the league lead in victories and establishing two franchise marks in the process.
The regulation time win by Orlando eliminated Jacksonville from the race for the fourth and final spot in the ECHL’s Eastern conference. With South Carolina also winning on Tuesday, the Solar Bears maintained their lead for the postseason berth as their points percentage grew to .572 while the Stingrays saw their percentage rise to .566. Orlando and South Carolina will meet for one final time this season Thursday night in the City Beautiful.
Luchuk’s tally was born out of desperation from Icemen Head Coach Jason Christie. With the game knotted at 2-2, less than two minutes remaining in regulation and Jacksonville on a power play, Christie rolled the dice and pulled goalie Charles Williams to give his team a six-on-four advantage. As Williams headed for the bench, Langan fought and won a tough puck battle along the boards in his own defensive end. He sent it to Luchuk who skated the disc to the neutral and seeing the cage empty, sailed it into the net for his second shorthanded tally of the season and first game-winner of the year at the 18:22 mark.
Up until that point, the contest had been a playoff-caliber affair that had plenty of drama. The goalies were the stars for most of the evening as Windsor and Williams traded save for save throughout the game, each making several saves that were spotlight plays. Both defenses were brilliant at keeping the number of shots on net low. The teams combined for 42 shots – 19 for Orlando including the empty netter and 23 for Jacksonville – a good indicator of how badly each side wanted to win.
The game’s first goal came just before the midpoint of the first period. The play started when Orlando defenseman Nolan Valleau sent the puck to Michael Joly in the Solar Bears end. Joly threaded a stretch pass to Fabrizio Ricci who was joined by Kozun on a two-on-one break. Ricci fed Kozun who got a step on a Jacksonville defender and ready to fire. The defender, Ryker Killins, disrupted Kozun from behind, turning the shot into a changeup that threw off Williams’ timing and allowing the puck to skid between the goalie’s legs and in for Kozun’s fourth goal of the season.
Erik Bradford scored one of the two Jacksonville goals in Tuesday night’s game (PHN photo by Trina Kirk)
Following the one goal, one penalty, 19 combined shots opening frame, the second period was just as tight. The middle frame saw a combined 12 shots on net (seven by Jacksonville and 5 by Orlando), one penalty and again just one goal. The tally came off the stick of one-time Solar Bear Erik Bradford. Ara Nazarian made the key play, slipping a feed to the low slot as Bradford was charging in. Bradford was able to get his stick blade on the puck and direct it past Windsor for his 10th goal of the year. Trevor Hamilton got the secondary assist on the tally.
Jacksonville grabbed its only lead of the battle one tick shy of five minutes into the final frame. Mike Szmatula, who was a one-man wrecking crew against the Solar Bears, did the honors. Swooping behind the Orlando net, Szmatula outbattled a Solar Bears defenseman for the puck and immediately swung out toward the net front. He had enough room to keep swinging, eventually getting in position to deposit a backhanded into the twine for his 21st goal of the season and sixth (to go along with eight assists) against the Icemen’s rivals from Central Florida. Abbott Girduckis and Wacey Rabbit were credited with assists on the go-ahead score.
Langan, who came into Tuesday’s game having scored a goal in the final two minutes of each of the previous three games, didn’t wait that long to do his thing on this night. At the 12:28 mark of the third, he took a feed from Joly who was on the goal line and whistled a shot past Williams for his team-leading 28th to make it four straight contests with a game-tying tally in the last period of regulation.
What proved to be the key point of the night came at the 16:36 mark. Orlando’s Tyler Bird and Jacksonville’s Brenden Miller got into a tussle that led to a roughing minor to both Miller and Bird with Bird drawing a second minor for boarding. With time running down in the man advantage and regulation, Christie, who holds the records for most games coached and wins in ECHL history, rolled the dice and brought Williams to the bench. This time, however, the dice came up snake eyes and Luchuk had probably the easiest game-winner in his career.
The Solar Bears defense did the rest. They allowed just one Jacksonville shot to get to the net and Windsor in the final 1:38, allowing Orlando to celebrate the victory.
Orlando still has some work to do to secure a playoff spot. They host South Carolina on Thursday before making one more trip to Jacksonville on Friday and a final home game on Saturday against Florida, the team they will likely face in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs that begin next week. All three games will drop the puck at 7 p.m.
Notes: Neither team connected on the power play as Orlando went 0-for-1 and Jacksonville went 0-for-3… Windsor is now one win ahead of Florida’s Jake Hildebrand (22). He now hold the Orlando franchise mark for most wins in a single season and most career wins in a Solar Bears uniform at 42, both marks that were previously held by Ryan Massa… With 27 goals and 46 assists for 73 points, Luchuk has pulled ahead of Wichita’s Anthony Beauregard (22 goals, 49 assists, 71 points) for the league lead… Langan pulled into a tie with Allen’s Corey Mackin for second place in the goal scoring race with 28. Only Florida’s John McCarron (30 goals) has more.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at trina.kirk@prohockeynews.com
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