GREENVILLE, SC – Of late, the Orlando Solar Bears have been finding themselves in quite a few one goal games. The good part about is that they have been finding a way to come away with two points in the standings. 
Saturday night at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, the Solar Bears continued both of those trends.
Led by two more goals by Hunter Fejes, and another 30-plus save outing from Brad Barone, Orlando (16-12-1-0) came away with a 3-2 win over the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (9-12-3-2) in front of a New Year’s night announced crowd of 2,358. Jake Transit and TristinLangan chipped in with two assists each as the Solar Bears won their third consecuting game overall and fourth straight on the road. It was also the team’s third consecutive win by the slimmest of margins.
Fejes, who has been in town for just over a week’s time, has been the offensive catalyst that Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky wanted. He has picked up multi-point nights in his last three outings, banking five goals – including a pair of two-goal games – and two assists. Considering that the team has scored a total of 12 goals in their last three (all wins), Fejes figuring in on almost two-thirds of them says a lot about how dependable he has become.
Barone, who has spent the week as the go-to netminder with Zach Emond still on the Commissioner’s Exempt list, turned away 39 of 41 Greenville shots to pick up his 10th win of the season. In three games during the week, Barone posted a 3-0-0 record with 103 saves on 112 shots and a save percentage of .920.
One the heels of Friday afternoon’s thrilling overtime win against South Carolina and a long ride north to Greenville, it was no surprise that the host Swamp Rabbits got on the board first. Just 3:35 into the opening period, a break into the Orlando defensive end concluded with Max Zimmer feeding Liam Pecararo on the back side for his team-leading 13th goal of the season.
A little past the midpoint of the frame, Fejes began to put his stamp on the contest. At the 11:11 mark, he was in the right place to knock the puck past Greenville netminder John Lethemon for his fourth of the season and first full strength tally of his return. Transit, who has been an absolute find for Berehowsky, picked up the lone assist for his sixth point in his seventh game with the Solar Bears.
The middle frame had only one goal scored during it. It came off the stick of Luke McInnis off of a setup from Langan at 9:56. The score came from a sequence of four-on-four hockey and was McInnis’ fifth goal of the year and gave the visitors a lead they wouldnot give up.
The only other note of interest from the second helped to set up the four-on-four. With Orlando on a power play, defenseman Nolan Valleau was called for slashing. Additionally, Valleau was banished from the contest for inciting under Rule 75.5, leaving the Solar Bears down a man for the rest of the night.
Midway through the third period, Fejes struck once again. Transit started the play, feeding Langan who then set up Fejes for his second of the night. The tip-in score was number five on the season.
Zimmer pulled the Swamp Rabbits within one with a bomb from the top of right faceoff circle for his 10th during a late power play and Lethemon (20 saves) pulled for an extra attacker. It was however not enough as Barone and his teammates closed the door, starting the 2022 portion of the schedule on a positive note.
Orlando now gets a good rest as they will not play again until Monday, January 10th when the South Carolina Stingrays visit the Amway Center.
Notes: Final shots were 41-23 in favor of Greenville… The Solar Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play while the Swamp Rabbits finished 1-for-4… Langan’s two assists pushed him past both Jake Cepis (112 points) and Denver Manderson (113 points) into third place in team history for most points (43 goals, 71 assists, 114 points)… Fejes’ game-winning goal on Saturday was his second of the week and seventh as a member of the Solar Bears, putting him fifth in franchise history for deciding scores… Transit’s two-point night was the first of his pro career.
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