ORLANDO, FLA – In the time that the Jacksonville Icemen have been a second in-state rival for the Orlando Solar Bears, the boys from O-Town have made the Icemen’s trips to Central Florida a nightmare. Since the 2017-18 season, Orlando was a perfect 23-0 against Jacksonville at the Amway Center. Thursday night at the Amway, the Solar Bears went looking for win number 24.
Unfortunately, that 24th in a row didn’t happen.
Former Solar Bear Pavel Vorobei blasted a one-timer in the dying seconds of a third period power play to give Jacksonville (28-14-2-1) a 3-2 victory over host Orlando (24-18-3-0) in front of an announced crowd of 3,602. The win added two more points to Jacksonville’s lead in the South division, pushing them ahead of the Florida Everblades by three points and .060 (.656 to .596) in points percentage.
Tristin Langan and Tyler Bird scored the two Solar Bears goals as Orlando erased a 2-0 first period deficit to draw even heading to the final frame. Goalie Brad Barone, playing in his 10th consecutive game, stopped 29 of 32 Icemen shots in an eventual losing effort as Icemen netminder Charles Williams turned aside 33 of 35 shots by the Solar Bears.
Trying to take advantage of the Icemen having to go to a shootout before winning in southwest Florida against the Florida Everblades on Wednesday night, the Solar Bears came out to start the first period in an aggressive mood. They pressed hard, keeping Williams busy by amassing a healthy shot advantage in the front half of the stanza – 9 to 1 in the first six minutes of play – but had nothing to show for it. The key play in that time was Williams coming up with a big save on a shorthanded breakaway by Hunter Fejes.
Feeding off the stellar play by their goalie, the Icemen responded with a pair of goals in a span of 53 seconds to stun the crowd. First at the 8:34 mark, James Sanchez fired a wrist shot from the point at Barone. Abbott Girduckis got inside position on a defender and stuck his stick blade into the shooting lane. The puck clicked off the blade and skidded through Barone’s legs for Girduckis’ 12th goal of the season.
Less than a minute later, the visitors doubled their margin. Luke Lynch led a rush into the Orlando end. He slowed up, allowing Craig Martin to get in behind a defender in the far faceoff circle. Lynch slipped Martin a pass that Martin then fired on net. Barone made the save but the rebound kicked to the goalie’s left where Jake Elmer fired it into the open side of the cage for his 11th of the year and a 2-0 lead 9:27 into the contest.
Down a pair starting the second, Orlando needed a start like it had in the first but with some success included. It took only 1:37 for the Solar Bears to bring the crowd to its feet. Bird put the puck on Langan’s stick in the nearside circle. Langan saw Joe Garreffa on the back side and went through the slot with a saucer pass. Falling away from the net, Garreffa got a shot along the goal line that skipped over Williams’ stick and continued to the other post. Langan was about to circle the net but quickly changed direction and beat a defenseman to the loose puck and poked it home for his ninth, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
A minute after Langan’s tally, the home team went on the power play and put three shots on Williams but nothing got past. Still, it provided enough confidence for the Solar Bears to keep up the pressure. Michael Brodzinski clanged one off the crossbar but it stayed out, holding Jacksonville’s lead at 2-1.
Late in the stanza, Orlando was able to tie things up thanks to some gritty work along the boards. Garreffa, who again was filling in on the blueline, stopped a clearing attempt and sent the puck to the corner for Odeen Tufto. Tufto moved up the boards before seeing Bird cutting through the far side circle. Tufto hit Bird with a pass and Bird headed toward the slot before whipping a shot over the short side shoulder of Williams for his team-leading 13th of the season and a 2-2 tie that lasted into the second intermission.
The teams played the first eight minutes of the third period pretty even with the Icemen holding a 4-2 shots advantage through the initial 8:20 of clock time. It was at that juncture that Orlando’s Luke McInnis was called for hooking, giving Jacksonville its fourth power play of the night.
It took almost all of the two minutes of advantage time for the visitors to get a shot on net but it was a big one. With the puck in the near circle, Lynch poked it away from a defender to Martin near the top of the circle. He had a clear lane to go cross-ice to Vorobei. Vorobei, who started the season in Orlando before going to Indy and subsequently to the Icemen, leaned into a rocket of a slapshot that beat Barone high to the short side for his third goal of the season – all of them with Jacksonville – and what proved to be the game-winning score.
With just under half of the final twnety minutes remaining, the Solar Bears tried to find their second tying tally of the night. They pumped five shots on Williams in the next five minutes but the Icemen goalie was equal to the task. Then with a little over two minutes left in regulation, Barone was pulled for an extra attacker to try to apply even more pressure on the visitors. Williams and his teammates stood up to the challenge, keeping Orlando off the scoreboard and taking a very huge monkey off the backs of the Jacksonville franchise.
The Solar Bears get right back into action Friday night when they host the Indy Fuel for the first of a two-game set at the Amway Center starting at 7 p.m. Jacksonville is off until Sunday when it hosts the South Carolina Stingrays at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena at 3 p.m.
Notes: Final shots were 35-32 in favor of Orlando… The Icemen went 1-for-4 on the power olay while the Solar Bears were 0-for-2…Langan’s goal was his 50th career talley and his 130th point as a member of the Solar Bears. It tied him with Eric Faille who amassed 130 points with Orlando from 2015-17 for most points in franchise history.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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