GREENVILLE, SC – Twelve days ago, the Orlando Solar Bears staged an improbable four goal third period comeback against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena to end a long winless streak. Friday night, the visitors from Central Florida staged yet another final frame rally that may not have been as epic but nevertheless accomplished just about the same thing.
Martins Dzierkals and J.C. Campagna each lit the goal light in the final twenty minutes as the Solar Bears (7-9-3-0, 17 points) edged the Swamp Rabbits (11-7-2-0, 24 points) in front of an announced crowd of 4,268.
The win was also an important one for Orlando goalie Mackenzie Skapski. It was the former Greenville netminder’s first victory in a Solar Bears uniform and kept his team from a second straight loss.
The game had its own anticipation for Solar Bears fans, a good number of which gathered for a watch party put on by the team. The attraction: the season debuts of veteran forward Darryl Bootland and veteran defenseman Sean Zimmerman. Both players were coming off of medical procedures during the off-season and were expected to be the leaders of an Orlando team that has its sights set on a deep run in the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs.
Zimmerman, who was named captain – a position he held with the 2017 ECHL Kelly Cup champion Colorado Eagles, made his presence known midway through the opening period. Following a heavy hit on Dzierkals by Greenville’s Austin McKay, Zimmerman immediately challenged McKay to a fight. Although Zimmerman picked up an extra two minutes, it was an improtant moment for the players on the ice and on the bench to see the eleven year veteran have a teammate’s back.
The fight was the biggest event of a scoreless first period that featured Skapski and Swamp Rabbits netminder Brandon Halverson. Halverson was by far the busier of the two goalies, making twelve saves including a back-to-back set on Solar Bears forward J.J. Piccinich late in frame. For his part, Skapski only faced four recorded shots but had to be on his game. He did have the hockey gods on his side however as both Evan Jasper and Sergey Zborovskiy beat him but both times the puck dinged off a post and stayed out.
Greenville took the lead early in the second period when Jack Nevins netted his first goal of the season at the 1:46 mark. The play was started by Zborovskiy who put the puck on the stick of one time Solar Bear Joe Basaraba. Basaraba brought the disc into the Orlando defensive zone before dishing it to Nevins who beat Skapski into the right top corner of the net. The score was also Nevins’ 30th career ECHL point.
The rest of the frame again became a battle of the netminders as Skapski and Halverson matched save for save over the course of the remaining eighteen minutes of play. Each had moments where they were tested and came up big as the teams combined for 29 shots in the period, 19 for Orlando and 10 for Greenville.
Again facing a deficit heading into the third period, the Solar Bears took advantage of a man advantage situation to even the score. Frustrated all night on the power play, Dzierkals took matters into his own hands and showed why he was a third round draft of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Starting in his ownend, he skillfully danced his way past all four Greenville defenders before attacking the Swamp Rabbits net and slipping the puck under Halverson for his fifth goal of the season.
Dzierkals score at 8:51 of the period perked up both offenses but both Halverson and Skapski were clutch, each coming up with a key save in the seconds following the goal. Halverson (36 saves) stoned Orlando forward Josh Winquist on a short-handed chance a little past the midpoint of the stanza to keep it a tie game.
As time wound down, it looked like the contest might be headed to overtime but the Solar Bears had other ideas. With just under four minutes left in regulation, Orlando’s Jean Dupuy got the puck in the Greenville defensive zone and made a beeline to the slot. As the defense started to converge, he slid a pass to Campagna who fired the puck over Halverson’s shoulder to give the Solar Bears their first lead of the night. For Campagna, it was his sixth goal of the season and third in seven games with Orlando.
Greenville head coach pulled Halverson with 1:32 left in the contest but the extra attacker failed to pay off as the Solar Bears, led by Skapski (20 saves), held the Swamp Rabbits off to pick up the win.
Notes: Orlando outshot Greenville in the contest by a count of 38-21… The Solar Bears went 1-for-4 on the power play while the Swamp Rabbits were 0-for-6… Bootland had 1 shot on net and was a minus-1 in his debut while Zimmerman had seven minutes in penalties and was even on the night… Skapski also picked up an assist on Dzierkals power play goal in the third period… Nolan Valleau (5-game assist / 5 assists) and Dupuy (4-game points / 3 goals, 4 assists) both extended streaks while Kristian Pospisil picked up his third assist in his last four games with a ehlper on Campagna’s winner… Orlando is now 4-4-1-0 on the road… Bootland, Valleau and Joe Perry were named assistant captains Friday afternoon to go with Zimmerman being named captain… The Solar Bears will travel to North Charleston to take on the South Carolina Stingrays Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. while Greenville is off until Sunday afternoon when they visit the Stingrays at 3:05 p.m.
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