ORLANDO, FLA – When Orlando Solar Bears forward Tristin Langan netted his 13th goal of the season Thursday night 32 seconds into the second period, fans at the Amway Center thought they were going to see their favorite team take another chunk out of the Eastern conference leading Florida Everblades. They were happy, thinking that maybe they were seeing the beginnings of a second three-game sweep against their hated rivals from southwest Florida.
Then the Everblades decided that it was time to reveal that the first 20:32 of play was just a cruel April Fool’s joke.
Three unanswered second period goals – two coming shorthanded – and solid defense keyed by goaltender Jake Hildebrand (29 saves on 31 shots) led the visiting Everblades (30-10-0-2) to a 3-2 win over Orlando (20-16-3-1) in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 2,250. Matt Petgrave and Colby Sission bagged the man-down scores while defenseman Stefan LeBlanc tallied the game-winner on a full-strength sequence.
Kevin Lohan scored his first goal on Amway Center ice and Langan had the other but it was not enough to overcome the special teams effort by Florida. Goalie Clint Windsor made 28 saves in suffering the loss that extended the Solar Bears losing streak to three games.
The loss dropped Orlando’s record against the Everblades to 6-10-2-1, which equates to the Solar Bears earning 15 points out of 38 available in 19 meetings – a point percentage of .395. Against its other opponents (Greenville, Jacksonville, Wheeling and South Carolina), Orlando is 14-6-1-0 which is 29 points out of 42 available for a percentage of .690. The Solar Bears still have eight more meetings with Florida before the 2021 Kelly Cup playoffs begin in June.
Things started off well for the home team in the first period. Orlando killed off a pair of Florida power plays in the opening ten minutes of the contest. A bit later in the frame, Lohan, who is in his third season with the Solar Bears, opened the scoring with a nifty play. Taking a pass from J.J. Piccinich out near the blueline, Lohan drove down the far boards and made a sharp cut toward the Everblades net. As Hildebrand went down, Lohan went to the top of the crease and sneaking a backhander just under the netminder’s pad. The puck ever so gently slid through the blue paint and into the cage for Lohan’s first of the season and just his third in a Solar Bears uniform.
Orlando wanted more and came out to start the second frame with offense on its collective mind. Half a minute in, Tyler Bird worked the puck back to Mark Auk at the point and lined up a blast that found traffic and Hildebrand in the way. The rebound kicked into the slot where Langan scooped it up and in to extend the Solar Bears lead to 2-0.
Three minutes later, the Solar Bears went on its first power play of the game with a chance to go up by three. The Everblades quickly turned defense into offense when 29 seconds into the penalty kill, an odd man rush developed with Michael Huntebrinker and Joe Pendenza flying into the Orlando end. Huntebrinker’s shot was repelled by Windsor but the rebound came into the slot. Petgrave, who had jumped up into the play and was unmarked by any Solar Bears backcheckers, rifled the puck past the netminder for his first of the season at 3:56.
Just before the midpoint of the period, a second infraction went against Florida and once again Orlando had an opportunity to add to its lead. This time around, Everblade Levko Koper was leading a two-on-three foray and made a choice to fire from distance. Again Windsor made the stop but left a juicy rebound and again a trailer, this time it was Sissons and the Nashville prospect buried the second chance after beating a Solar Bear defender to the loose puck. For Sissons it was his fourth of the year but more importantly it knotted the score at 2-2.
Late in the period, the Everblades took the lead for good. At the 15:16 mark, Max Cook did a circle of the Orlando net and sent a pass back to LeBlanc at the blueline. With a lot of traffic impairing Windsor’s sightlines, LeBlanc fired at the cage and it found its way into the back of the net for LeBlanc’s third of the year.
Some frustrations began to bubble over, leading to a fight between Orlando’s Auk and Florida’s Luke Nogard but it did nothing to alter the scoreboard as the Everblades took their slim 3-2 lead into the intermission.
Florida recorded the first five shots of the third period, all of them coming in the initial 7:42 of the stanza, but Windsor said no to a fourth score by the visitors. It took the home team until 8:21 had elapsed to collect its first recorded shot on net in the period, some of which was due to tight defense by the Everblades and some it being the Solar Bears coming close but not close enough to converting on their chances. Florida held Orlando to just six shots in the final frame, all of them spread into three clumps of two. Windsor was pulled for an extra attacker with two minutes left but the advantage only generated two shots which Hildebrand handled to seal the victory.
The teams will be right back at it Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Amway Center with the final game of the weekend’s troika of matchups coming Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the City Beautiful.
Notes: Final shots were 31-31… Florida went 0-for-4 on the power play while Orlando ended up 0-for-2… The Solar Bears have now allowed six shorthanded goals this season, four of them coming in games at home… Both Bird (five games) and Langan (four games) extended personal point streaks.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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