ESTERO, FLA – Eighteen days ago, the Orlando Solar Bears began their ten-game road trip at Germain Arena with a loss to the Florida Everblades. As the trip came to a close Wednesday night, the Solar Bears found themselves in the spot where it began looking to avenge that December 3rd loss.
Unfortunately for the Solar Bears, that revenge will have to wait for another night.
Spurred by a third period surge, the host Everblades (17-5-1-2, 37 points) downed the Solar Bears (16-9-3-0, 35 points) 5-2 in front of an announced crowd of 5,225. The loss brought Orlando’s record on the trip to 5-4-1-0 and dropped it out of a tie with Florida for first place in the South division.
Looking to recover from a bad loss in Fort Wayne on Sunday, the Solar Bears tried to channel their inner hatred for their in-state rival to fuel a winning effort. It seemed to work early on when Orlando jumped in front 3:25 into the contest when on a two-on-one break, Joe Perry threaded a pass between the legs of a defender to Brett Findlay who buried the puck behind Florida goalie Anthony Peters for his tenth goal of the season.
The lead lasted just shy of six minutes before the Everblades responded. It came when Brendan O’Donnell slipped the puck into the slot where Brant Harris took the puck and fired a shot through a screen and past Solar Bears netminder Kasimir Kaskisuo for his ninth of the year to tie the score.
Just before the midpoint of the opening frame, a fight broke out between Orlando’s Chris Bradley and Florida’s Curt Gogol. A sidebar to the brawl saw the Solar Bears Connor Gaarder, who was playing in his first game for Orlando, and the Everblades Dalton Smith. Gaarder ended up with an extra minor penalty that gave the home team a man advantage.
That power play proved to be fruitful as Matt Berry grabbed control of the puck behind the Orlando net and tucked a wraparound under Kaskisuo at the 11:34 mark of the period. For Berry, it was his eighth goal of the season and more importantly it gave his team the lead.
Orlando kept plugging away and found a way to even the score before the first intermission. The play started when Austin Block sent the puck to the front on the net when Jon Jutzi had creeped in to a space in the slot. Jutzi’s shot broke his stick but the puck found Gaarder on the doorstep. Gaarder banged home the rebound for his first ECHL goal and his first professional goal in North America.
Tied at two starting the second period, the two rivals battled hard to get the next goal. It led to tempers flaring when Orlando’s Taylor Doherty and Florida’s Gogol dropped the gloves three minutes into the frame. Kaskisuo and Peters stole the show in the stanza, matching save for save as the period progressed. Each team had a power play in the frame but neither scored with the advantage, sending the teams to the third period still even.
Early in the final period, Orlando had a huge chance to go back in front when overlapping Florida penalties created a two-man advantage for 1:30. The Everblades frustrated the Solar Bears power play units, holding them off the scoreboard.
The game turned in favor of the home team four minutes after the successful penalty kill. At the 7:31 mark, Smith rapped home the rebound of a John McCarron shot for his second goal of the season to put the Everblades ahead for good. One minute and 29 seconds later, Alex Kuqali sent the puck toward the front of the net where Michael Kirkpatrick buried it behind Kaskisuo for his ninth and a two goal Florida lead.
Former Solar Bear Adam Brace finished off Florida’s second straight win over Orlando with his fifth goal of the season into an empty net goal with 1:29 left in regulation.
Peters was solid in net for the Everblades, making 33 saves to earn the victory. Down the other end, Kaskisuo stopped 23 of 27 shots in suffering the loss.
Notes: Solar Bears defenseman Eric Baier played in his 200th game with the ECHL Solar Bears, becoming the first player in the ECHL franchise’s history to reach that mark… Orlando’s power play went 0-for-6 in the game, marking the third consecutive contest in which it had failed in six opportunities. In the last four games, the Solar Bears man advantage units have gone 1-for-23… With his assist on Berry’s first period goal, Florida’s McCarron extended his point-scoring streak to seven games… Orlando’s Findlay extended his point streak to five games with his first period tally…Florida now leads this season’s Sunshine Cup series three games to one… Earlier on Wednesday, Orlando announced that its home game on New Year’s Eve against Greenville has been changed from a 7 p.m. start to 4 p.m… The two teams will complete their pre-Christmas schedules Thursday night at the Amway Center in Orlando. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
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