NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Friday night, the Orlando Solar Bears spotted the South Carolina Stingrays a three goal lead in the first 14:06 of play in the opening period. Most times, getting hit with a blitz like that is the start of a bad night and a loss in the standings.
This time, however, what could have been the beginning of the end turned into the start of something big.
Tristin Langan scored two goals and an assist, Kyle Topping stayed red hot with a pair of tallies and rookie Anthony Repaci had three helpers as Orlando (20-13-3-1) netting six unanswered goals to double up on South Carolina (15-13-6-2) by a final of 6-3 in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 2,007 at the North Charleston Coliseum. Jerry D’Amigo and J.J. Piccinich added a goal and an assist each as the Solar Bears extended their current winning streak to three games. Goalie Clint Windsor also played a key role again, shutting the Stingrays down for the final 45:54 to earn a 31-save victory.
Mistakes seemed to be the theme of the Solar Bears play through much of the first period, particularly the initial 14:06 of the first frame. They survived a short five-on-three Stingrays power play and the remaining five-on-four time but just as the second infraction ended, a bad turnover in front of Windsor left the puck on the stick of Brett Supinski. Supinski wasted little time in whipping a shot home for his eighth goal of the season and a 1-0 South Carolina lead.
One minute and 33 seconds later, another mistake by the visitors spelled trouble. This time Dylan Steman forced a turnover at center ice and created an odd man rush. Steman eventually fired the puck at the net where Andrew Cherniwchan got a piece of it. Windsor made the save but the rebound was collected by Justin Florek and banged home for Florek’s seventh of the year. Just under four minute later, Chase Stewart forced yet another Orlando turnover in the neutral zone. Cam Askew got control, skated into the Solar Bears defensive zone and lasered a wrist shot past the goalie’s blocker for his fourth to give the Stingrays a 3-0 cushion.
The Solar Bears collected themselves quickly and began the march back. Right off the ensuing faceoff, Jerry D’Amigo carried the puck into the South Carolina and sent a cross-ice pass to the slot. Topping somehow was able to get position on a defender and one-timed the puck past Stingrays netminder Hunter Shepard for his fourth of the year (third with Orlando) at the 14:18 mark.
Windsor opened the second period by stoning Cherniwchan from in close. Less than a minute later, Repaci secured the puck behing the South Carolina net and fed Piccinich who threaded a shot home for his sixth, cutting the margin to 3-2.
Midway through the stanza, the Solar Bears power play got a chance and cashed in. Again it was Topping doing the work, taking a pass and skating down the far side of the Stingrays end. As he got to the faceoff dot to Shepard’s right, Topping fired away, beating the goalie for his second of the game and fifth of the season. The tally evened the score at 3-3 where it stayed into the intermission.
Langan took over the contest during the front half of the third. During an Orlando penalty kill four minutes in, Tyler Bird broke out leading an odd man rush. His shot was stopped by Shepard (37 saves) but Langan deposited the rebound into the back of the net for his 10th of the year. Exactly four minutes later, he collected the rebound of a shot by Repaci, took it around the net and from the faceoff dot to the left of the cage snuck a shot through for his 11th and a 5-3 lead.
D’Amigo, who was seeing his first action since March 13th, finished things off in the final minute. He took a stretch pass from Chris LeBlanc, skated in and hit the empty net for his seventh to close the scoring.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. before closing the weekend set Sunday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. Both games will be played in North Charleston.
Notes: Final shots were 43-34 in favor of Orlando… The Solar Bears went 1-for-3 on the power play while South Carolina was 0-for-5… The comeback from three down was the Solar Bears fifth time in teamhistory they accomplished the fete. The last time Orlando came back from a three-goal deficit to win came on November 19,2017 when they stormed back to beat Greenville 7-6… Topping, who came in the group of players assigned by San Jose, has four goals in his last three games… Orlando is now 3-0-0-0 against South Carolina this season.
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