ORLANDO, FLA – In the world of sports, there are periods of time where the highs of success can seem to go on and on. Then there are times where the lows of failure seem to go on for days. Right now, the Orlando Solar Bears are finding themselves in a low that feels like it is getting deeper and deeper with no end in sight.
Sunday afternoon in front of an announced crowd of 5,549, the scorless drought the Solar Bears have been in of late grew a bit bigger as the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (17-22-4-3) scored in every period to defeat Orlando (25-21-3-0) 5-0 at the Amway Center. Five different Swamp Rabbits scored while goalie Evan Fitzpatrick stopped all 32 shots he faced to record his first ECHL shutout.
The last time the Solar Bears scored was on Friday, February 18th when Fabrizio Ricci scored against the Indy Fuel with 2:33 remaining in the third period. Since then, Orlando has failed to score in either regulation or overtime in three consecutive contests. On Sunday, the total of elapsed time grew to 189 minutes and 33 seconds – a number that shot past the franchise record for longest time without a score (155:03 set in 2012-13) by more than a period and a half and still counting. It was also the first time in franchise history that the Solar Bears had been whitewashed in three consecutive games.
In the three full games since losing 4-1 to the Fuel to start the run, Orlando has been getting shots on net, barely being outshot by their opponents by an aggregate total of 104-99. What has not worked has been the Solar Bears power play. Dating back to February 13th, Orlando man advantage units are 1-for-17 over the last six games.
Sunday’s contest was part misfortune and part mistakes. Through the first fourteen minutes plus of the opening frame, the Solar Bears were playing decently and being patient while looking to break the early scoreless deadlock.
At the 14:51 mark, misfortune struck the home team. Greenville defenseman Alec Rauhauser was trying to get away from two Solar Bears abover the top of the near side circle. He pivoted and fired only to have the shot hit a Solar Bear. It caromed away toward Brett Kemp who collected the loose puck and before Barone could recover, fired it into the open side of the net for hia 12th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Just a couple of ticks under four minutes later, the Swamp Rabbits got lucky again and because of it doubled their lead. Two wraparound attempts, one by Ayden MacDonald and the other by Anthony Beauchamp had Barone going post to post in rapid succession. On Beauchamp’s try, he regained control of the puck and wedged it between the back of Barone’s leg and the side of the post, allowing it to get into the crease. Beauchamp continued to dig and with referee Sam Heidemann standing right behind the cage still seeing the disc, the puck slid across the goal line and in. Beauchamp was credited with the score, his sixth of the season.
Orlando got an opportunity to get onto the board early in the second with a power play but the man advantage yielded just one shot on Fitzpatrick. The score stayed at 2-0 until the 12:55 mark of the stanza when Beauchamp went on a forechecking spree behind the Orlando net. He forced a turnover that hopped out toward the post to Barone’s left where Quin Foreman was standing. Foreman batted the puck out of mid-air past Barone for his third of the season and a 3-0 cushion.
A minute later the Solar Bears took a penalty, putting the Swamp Rabbits on their first man advantage of the game. Twenty-three seconds into the power play, Greenville worked the puck around the top of the umbrella set to Bryce Reddick at the top of the near side faceoff circle. Reddick let rip with a one timer that beat the Orlando goalie past his right shoulder for Reddick’s third of the year and a four goal differential that put the Solar Bears in a very deep hole.
Orlando Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky knew he had seen enough and relieved Barone in between the pipes with newcomer Ty Taylor, who was added to the roster last Thursday. Taylor’s first professional save was a dandy, using his right skate to deny former Solar Bear Nikita Pavlychev on a break away, keeping it a four goal game after two periods.
The frustrations of the Orlando players began to show in the third as several scrums developed and slashing penalties became the prevalent call of choice in the final twenty minutes. Midway through the frame, Greenville’s Rauhauser finished off the scoring when he took a feed from Johnny Coughlin in the high slot and sent a wrist shot toward the Orlando cage. It found its way through some heavy traffic and past Taylor for his third of the season to create the eventual final score.
Barone, who was pulled for the second straight game, stopped 13 of 17 Greenville shots in his 34:14 of playing time while Taylor turned away eight of the nine shots he saw in his first professional appearance.
The two teams will meet again on Tuesday morning at the Amway Center in the return of the Solar Bears annual School Day Game.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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