ORLANDO, FL – Orlando Solar Bears head coach and general manager Drake Berehowsky has been harping on starting off fast in games because the team is far better playing from in front than it is from behind. Saturday night, Orlando survived yet another sluggish opening frame but in the end, the Solar Bears suffered more frustration and the bitter taste of defeat to its arch-rivals.
Orlando’s Chris Crane scored twice but the Solar Bears fell to Florida Saturday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Stephen MacAulay scored his 20th goal of the season 2:59 into overtime as the visiting Florida Everblades (29-6-1-2, 61 points) edged Orlando (17-17-5-1, 40 points) 3-2 in front of an announced crowd of 8,524 at the Amway Center and its second local television audience of the year. MacAulay’s tally spoiled a two power play goal night for the Solar Bears Chris Crane and multi-assist games from JJ Piccinich and Joe Perry.
“We [have] talked all year. It’s our starts. We can’tgo down 2-0 to the best team in the league and have a reallygood chance to win,” Crane said after the defeat. “After the start our team played really well. I think the coaching staff was happy with our game [but] we came up short.”
With both teams coming off the All-Star break, the Solar Bears thought they could jump on the Everblades and All-Star goalie Martin Ouellette but they were wrong. Florida was able to survive an early push and opened the scoring at the 1:41 mark of the first period when Clark Seymour fired an off-balance shot from the blueline that eluded Orlando netminder Cal Heeter low to the stick side for the defenseman’s third goal of the season.
A battle between Solar Bears defenseman Aleksandr Mikulovich and Florida’s Brett Bulmer livened up the home crowd as well as the numerous Everblades fans in town for the contest but the building quickly quieted down soon after. Just prior to the midpoint of the opening frame, sniper John McCarron skated the puck into the Orlando end. The defense backed off, allowing McCarron to get to below the faceoff dot to Heeter’s left and roof a dart into the top corner of the cage for his tenth of the season and a two-goal lead.
Orlando could have hung its heads but the Solar Bears battled back thanks to a late power play. With less than ninety seconds left in the stanza, Piccinich fired a shot on net that Ouellette stopped. The Everblades goalie also knocked away a rebound attempt by Perry but the second save ended up in a loose puck that Crane buried into the back of the net for his seventh of the season.
Florida’s Joe Cox (39, white) looks for the puck and position between Orlando’s Alex Gudbranson (left) and goalie Cal Heeter (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
“We want to be a team that shows character and shows character in being able to battle back,” Berehowsky said about the response from his team. “I thought we came out after the first few minutes and I thought we played well. I thought we won the zone time I know in the first and third [periods and] in the second it was pretty close. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get the win.”
The middle frame was played at a pretty good pace with both netminders staying busy. The closest either team came to lighting the goal light was when Orlando’s Max Novak rang a shot off the goal post behind Ouellette but the puck remained out.
The Everblades went into lockdown mode on defense in the third period, holding Orlando without a shot on Ouellette (35 saves in the game) for the first eight minutes of the frame. Heeter, who finished the night with 28 saves, kept his team in the game with a huge save on Florida’s Steven Lorentz midway through the stanza.
Coming down the stretch, the Solar Bears still down until a penalty on the Everblades Quentin Shore with a little over five minutes left in regulation presented an opportunity. Orlando made Florida pay when Piccinich grabbed the rebound of a shot by Perry and made a heads up feed to Crane who fired it into the open net for the tying score.
“We needed a couple of big goals and my role on the team is I have to be a leader and I have to put the puck in the back of the net,” Crane said about his night’s work. “I wanted to give the boys a chance. Our power play was clicking and I was standing back door and had a couple of lucky shots.”
Late in regulation, a penalty to Orlando’s Chris LeBlanc allowed the Everblades one last shot to win before overtime. They failed to score in the remaining 18 seconds and on the remainder of the man advantage in the extra period. The teams went back and forth until Nelson Armstrong carried the puck into the Orlando end along the boards. He saw a passing land and dropped a perfect feed on the stick of MacAulay who drew it to his forehand before going backhand and between the legs of Heeter for the game winner.
Notes: Final shots in the game were 37-31 in favor of Orlando… The Solar Bears killed off all five Florida power plays while Orlando’s man advantage units scored twice in five attempts… Orlando’s record against the Everblades fell to 1-4-2-0 through seven meetings so far this season… Earlier in the day, Solar Bears forward Josh Winquist was called up by the AHL Toronto Marlies… Saturday’s game marked the 400th ECHL regular season contest for the Solar Bears. The team has a 194-159-27-20 record since joining the league in 2012… The two teams will meet again Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at thre Amway Center.
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