Solar Bears outlast Aces in high scoring game

ANCHORAGE, AK – Given all of the traveling the Orlando Solar Bears have done in the past ten days, it would have been easy for them to play tired in the final game of their western swing through Colorado and Alaska. Instead, the Solar Bears came out Saturday night with their best offensive game of the season.

Orlando goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo made 30 saves in Saturday’s win (PHN photo by Phillip Nichols)

Paced by two goal nights by Joe Perry and Austin Block and a four-point game from Alex Gacek, Orlando (20-13-4-2, 46 points) outscored the Alaska Aces (20-11-1-4, 45 points) 9-6 in front of an announced crowd of 3,403 at Sullivan Arena. The victory was the Solar Bears second over the Aces and third on the road trip.

In addition to Gacek – who had a goal and three assists – and Block and Perry (two goals and an assist each), Denver Manderson (three assists), Nik Brouillard and Eric Faille (goal and an assist apiece) all posted multiple points as the Solar Bears registered their highest scoring contest of the season. All told, twelve Orlando players had at least one point and the nine goals was one off the ECHL franchise record of ten set in 2015.

The night’s festivities started innocently enough 4:19 into the first period when Orlando defenseman Ben Danford collected an attempted zone clearing attempt by the Aces and put a shot past Alaska netminder Kevin Carr for his fourth goal of the season. Late in the period, a penalty to Alaska’s Matt Geurts allowed the Solar Bears a chance to increase their lead on the power play and they did. Brouillard did the honors, taking a pass from Manderson and lacing a wrist shot from the slot over Carr’s glove hand for his seventh of the season at 18:25.

The Aces needed a response and got it from the ECHL’s leading goal scorer, Peter Sivak. Sivak parked himself in the slot and one-timed a pass from Stephen Perfetto past Orlando goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo with 56.9 seconds left in the frame. For Sivak, it was his 28th goal of the season and just the start of a huge night.

Kaskisuo started the second period with a pair of saves on Garet Hunt and Perfetto that were quickly answered by a big leg save by Carr on Gacek. Not too long later with Orlando’s Mason Marchment in the penalty box, Sivak received a pass from Tim Coffman and whipped the puck to the top corner on Kaskisuo’s stick side from the slot for his second of the night and a tie score.

Seconds after a missed power play opportunity, the Solar Bears answered back at the 9:58 mark of the frame when Perry, Orlando’s leading scorer, was in front of the Alaska net when a drive by Brenden Miller glanced off his chest and settled in the back of the net for his 20th goal of the season. Perry’s tally was matched a little shy of four minutes later when Sivak reached the 30-goal plateau on a spinning backhander off the rebound of a shot by Daniel Moynihan to give Sivak a hat trick as well as tying the game at three.

Orlando’s power play connected one more time in the middle stanza when Manderson made a cross-ice pass to Faille who fired on net. Perry was again in the right place to redirect Faille’s shot/pass past Carr for his second of the night and a lead that the visitors would not relinquish.

The third period turned into an old west shootout with goals coming fast and furious while the goalies became defenseless targets. Block cleaned up the rebound of a Manderson shot for his seventh of the season at the 3:24 mark and lit the lamp again two minutes and thirty seconds later when Gacek and Chase Witala made the tic and tac passes to set up Block’s shot that beat Carr at 5:53 to make it 6-3. Block’s second score ended Carr’s night as Michael Garteig came on to relieve Carr.

The change seemed to light a spark under the Aces who got a goal from Justin Breton – his seventh of the season – to cut the margin to 6-4 but scores by Gacek off a pass from Chris Crane and Faille off of a defensive zone turnover by the Aces. stretched Orlando’s lead out to 8-4. For Gacek, his goal was his sixth with the Solar Bears and 14th overall while Faille’s tally was his 16th of the season.

Faille’s score was the fifth between the two teams in a span of 6:02 but neither side was done scoring. Tommy Olczyk, son of former NHL player and coach Ed Olczyk, put a shot over Kaskisuo for his fifth of the season at 16:28 and when Ryan Trenz popped one in for his seventh with the Aces playing with an extra attacker, the lead was down to 8-6 with 90 seconds remaining.

Darik Angeli put the game out of reach with an empty net tally – his sixth goal of the season and third since joining the Solar Bears – with 23.6 seconds remaining, squashing the Aces hopes of a miracle comeback.

Notes: Kaskisuo,who was playing in his fifth consecutive game, made 30 saves to earn the victory. Carr made 20 saves in 45:53 of playing time before giving way to Garteig who stopped five of seven and ended up taking the loss… Orlando’s power play was hot in the contest, netting three goals in five chances while Alaska went 1-for-5… Crane’s assist was his 100th career ECHL point. He now has 54 goals and 46 assists… The win was the Solar Bears eighth on the road since Drake Berehowsky was rehired in November (Berehowsky gets credit for all eight wins including when assistant coach John Snowden was in charge for the victory over the Aces last Wednesday). The number is significant in that during Berehowsky’s one full season behind the Orlando bench in 2012-13, the team won only eight times away from the Amway Center all year… Thanks to the All-Star break, Orlando is off until next Friday when they travel to Estero to take on the Florida Everblades in the front end of a home-and-home weekend set.