WHEELING, WV – Two games into a season-long seven game road trip, the Orlando Solar Bears are finding out how to play both from ahead and from behind. Maybe more importantly, they are learning how to finish games off.
Friday night at WesBanco Arena, forward Johnny McInnis and defenseman Max Nicastro had two goals and an assist each to lead Orlando (14-14-2-3, 33 points) to a 5-2 win over the host Wheeling Nailets (15-14-2-2, 34 points). The victory gave the Solar Bears their second straight win and fourth in five starts this month.
Rylan Schwartz (one goal, one assist) and Jack Rodewald (two assists) also had multiple point nights in the contest for Orlando while goalie Ryan Massa made 25 saves to earn his eighth win of the year.
Unlike Wednesday’s game in Norfolk where the Solar Bears got off to a quick start, the visitors found themselves playing from behind early. The Nailers opened the scoring 5:50 into the opening period when Connor Leen sent Anton Zlobin in on a breakaway against Massa. Zlobin drove straight in and fired a shot to the bottom corner of the net for his fifth goal of the season.
Four minutes later, Massa fended off a shot by Cody Wydo but the rebound went in off of Jarrett Burton to put Wheeling up by two midway thru the frame. For Burton, it was his fourteenth goal this year.
While the Nailers were pounding shots at Massa, goalie Franky Palazzese was having a relatively easy time. Orlando mustered just two recorded shots in the first ten minutes and finished with only five in the stanza.
Whatever Orlando head coach Anthony Noreen said between periods obviously resonated as the Solar Bears came out inspired in the second. Just 1:20 in, Nicastro jumped up into a rush and found himself on the business end of a pass from Schwartz. The big defenseman redirected the puck past Palazzese into the net for his sixth of the year, cutting Wheeling’s lead in half.
Spurred on by Nicastro’s tally, the Solar Bears began to open up on offense. At the 8:21 mark, Nicastro sent McInnis away with a perfect stretch pass. McInnis was stopped by Palazzese on his first shot but with no defenders around, he easily put the rebound into the back of the net to tie the game at two. The score remained tied into the second intermission.
Madore and the Orlando penalty killing units faced their stiffest test of the game three minutes into the third when defenseman Spencer McAvoy was hit with a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct. The Solar Bears kept Wheeling’s power play from getting any real scoring opportunities during the extended man advantage, gaining momentum in the process.
That momentum turned into the eventual game-winning goal two ticks shy of eleven minutes into the period. Playing with a delayed penalty coming on the Nailers, Rodewald got the puck to Schwartz who banked a shot off the skates of a defender for his fourth goal since arriving in Orlando.
McInnis stretched the lead to two when he took a pass from newly signed forward Nicklas Lindberg and broke in on Palazzese (19 saves). McInnis went to his backhand side and roofed the puck under the crossbar for his second of the game and tenth of the season. A late power play gave Nicastro a chance to blast a one-timer off a pass from McInnis past the Wheeling netminder for his second tally of the night and seventh on the year with 44 seconds left to close the scoring.
Game Notes: With two multi-goal games in his last six, Nicastro pushed his season points total to ten in 30 games played – just three points shy of his season total a year ago…Schwartz’ goal and assist ran his totals to four goals and four assists in seven appearances since signing with Orlando on December 26th…Massa has now won three starts in a row after going 0-3-1-0 in his previous four starts for the Solar Bears…The two teams will meet again Saturday night in Wheeling.
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