DULUTH, GA – Wednesday night at the Infinite Energy Arena, there was plenty on the line when the Orlando Solar Bears visited the Atlanta Gladiators. Both teams had playoff implications riding on the outcome as the Solar Bears had a chance to clinch a post-season berth for the third straight season while the Gladiators needed a win to pull into a tie for the final playoff spot in the ECHL’s South Division.
The outcome was decided by which team was hungrier, and on this night it was the home squad.
Led by multi-point nights from Nick Bligh, Matt Lane and Filip Pyrochta, Atlanta (30-26-7-3, 70 points) scored four unanswered goals to pull away with a 5-1 victory over Orlando (36-24-4-1, 77 points) in front of an announced crowd of 3,525. Zach Frye had the lone goal for the visiting Solar Bears who will have to wait until Friday for a second shot at securing the franchise’s fifth trip to the Kelly Cup playoffs in its seven years of existence in the premiere double-A hockey league.
While both sides had something to play for, it was the host Gladiators who seemed to be the readier of the two divisional rivals to accomplish its goal of victory. Atlanta came out with plenty of fire in its collective bellies as it looked for revenge for a 5-1 loss in Central Florida last week as well as catching the South Carolina Stingrays in the standings.
Facing the onslaught in net for the Solar Bears was rookie netminder Clint Windsor, who himself was looking for his his fifth consecutive win while making his third straight start between the pipes. For one of the few times since joining the Orlando club, Windsor misplayed a dump-in by Bligh, losing control of the puck just enough for Bligh to follow up and poke it past the goalie for his 25th goal of the season 1:21 into the opening period.
Smelling blood in the (frozen) water, the Gladiators kept the pressure on their guests, using two power play opportunities in the first half of the first stanza to build a 9-0 shot advantage before the Solar Bears could register a shot – an attempt by defenseman Kevin Lohan during the second penalty kill of the frame. By the time ended in the first, Atlanta goalie Sean Bonar had seen just five shots while Windsor made ten seves on the eleven shots he faced.
Early in the second period, Orlando had an opportunity with the man advantage but could only muster one shot on Bonar during the two minutes of power play time and one seconds after Hugo Roy exited the penalty box. Roy’s release nearly cost the Solar Bears as he took a feed and went in alone on Windsor but the young netminder saved the day for the moment with a huge glove save.
The visitors found their offense after the Windsor stop and hemmed the Gladiators in their defensive zone. Out of the push, a wild scramble at Bonar’s crease led to the puck squirting out to the faceoff circle to the right of the net where Frye stepped into a high rising slap shot that beat Bonar for his 5th goal with Orlando.
Just over two minutes after Frye’s tally, Atlanta went back in front for good. Working the puck around the Solar Bears end of the ice, Jack Stander sent the disc to Zach Magwood who in turn fed it to Zach Malatesta who fired a shot from the point that beat Windsor’s glove hand for Malatesta’s 5th of the year.
Malatesta’s score was the final one of the middle frame as Bonar and Windsor settled back down and held the other side scoreless, keeping the Gladiators ahead by a score of 2-1 heading to the third and final period.
The last stanza was less than five minutes old when Orlando’s Jackson Playfair headed to the penalty box, giving Atlanta a chance to increase its lead. The Gladiators took just 25 seconds of power play time to do just that when Joel Messner sent the puck along the boards to captain Derek Nesbitt who was heading behind the Solar Bears net. Instead of completing his trek, Nesbitt turned and fired a pass to the slot where Brady Fleurent rifled a one-timer into the back of the cage for his first goal with Atlanta and a 3-1 lead for his team.
Windsor (35 saves) made a ten bell save just past the midpoint of the period, diving back toward the far post to deny Magwood on a rebound. That effort ended up being only a momentary ceasing of the Gladiators’ momentum as a perfect tic-tac-toe passing play led to Matt Lane netting his 10th of the season at the 13:25 mark. Lane started the sequence by sending the puck to Bligh who then his Olivier Galipeau with a pass before Galipeau returned it to Lane for a shot that beat Windsor.
The Solar Bears had a golden opportunity to get back into the contest when two scrums within a span of 53 seconds left them with a 5-on-3 man advantage for 1:07 of clock time. Orlando Head Coach Drake Berehowsky pulled Windsor to give his team a six-on-three advantage but the Gladiators tightened up their defensive posture and held Orlando to just one shot on Bonar during that time.
After Atlanta got a man back and with Windsor still on the bench, Justin MacDonald sealed the victory with an empty net tally for his 20th of the year with 2:31 remaining in regulation. Bonar picked up his second assist of the season by sending the puck to Pyrochta who in turn put it on MacDonald’s stick moments before the goal.
Orlando’s next chance to lock into the playoffs is Friday night in Greenville against the Swamp Rabbits. Game time is 7 p.m.
Notes: Final shots were 40-24 in favor of Atlanta… The Solar Bears went 0-for-3 on the power play while the Gladiators finished 1-for-3… The loss dropped Orlando’s season series record to 5-3-0-0 against Atlanta with a final meeting between the two teams on Thursday, April 4th in Orlando… Goalie Connor Ingram was added back to the Solar Bears roster earlier in the week and he backed up Windsor Wednesday night while Corbin Boes was put on reserve.
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