ORLANDO, FLA – Back on February 20th, the Orlando Solar Bears were smarting, having just been swept in a three-game set by the Florida Everblades. Yes, two of the contests were one-goal games (one being settled in overtime) but it was still a tough pill to swallow. The Solar Bears needed to pick themselves up off the ice and turn their fortunes around.
Whatever Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky and Assistant Coach Jared Staal figured out before the team’s next game on February 26th, they need to have written it down because it is working.
Led by a pair of two-goal periods and yet another strong outing by netminder Clint Windsor who made 25 saves, host Orlando (17-10-3-0) defeated the South Carolina Stingrays (12-10-6-2) by a score of 4-1 in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 2,250 at the Amway Center on Tuesday night. Tristin Langan, J.J. Piccinich, Tyler Bird and Tad Kozun each collected a goal as the Solar Bears won their fifth straight game at home and improved to a 6-0-1-0 record in their last seven contests.
What stands out during the current run by Orlando is the team’s penchant for scoring in clusters. Over the course of the last seven outings, the Solar Bears have found the back of the opposition’s net at least twice in nine of the last 22 periods (one game went into overtime). Four times Orlando has hit for multiple scores in the first period, twice in second periods and three times in third periods. One of those multiples was a three-goal opening frame against Jacksonville in the game that started the streak. Overall, Orlando has lit the goal light at least once in 15 of those stanzas.
Cashing in on opportunities was the name of the game for Orlando in the opening frame. The Solar Bears took the lead when shortly after coming out of the penalty box, Langan broke up a play at his defensive blueline. He busted out, pushing the puck ahead just enough to entice Stingrays goalie Alex Dubeau to try to come out and poke it away. Dubeau dove but Langan regained control, pulled it around the sliding netminder and fired into the open net for his ninth of the season at the 8:59 mark.
The lead grew to 2-0 a couple of minutes later again turning defense into offense. Defenseman Nolan Valleau muscled the puck away from a South Carolina player and quickly head-manned a feed to Piccinich. Piccinich mounted a counter attack, skating through center ice into the Stingrays end. Using his teammates as decoys, Piccinich floated into the slot area and beat Dubeau underneath the crossbar for his fourth goal of the year at 11:38.
The South division rivals played a pretty even second period with South Carolina outshooting Orlando 11 to 8. The visitors came up the lone score of the frame when during a four-on-four sequence, the Stingrays took advantage of an offensive zone faceoff win. Matthew Weis did a good job of keeping the puck in at the point and getting it to Caleb Herbert who quickly sent it to Cole Ully along the half-boards. Herbert went to the slot and was wide open, taking a pass from Ully and whipping a perfect shot to the top corner glove side on Windsor for his fifth goal of the season, trimming the margin to 2-1.
Dubeau (20 saves) made a huge stop early in the final stanza, taking a sure goal away from Solar Bears forward Jake Coughler. Dubeau made an ill-advised play on the puck, allowing Coughler to pick off the pass. Dubeau scrambled and dove to cover the empty cage, getting his stick on Coughler’s shot and keeping it out of the net.
The Solar Bears were forced to kill off two penalties during the third, one at 8:26 and the other at 13:55. Windsor’s teammates did an outstanding job, holding the Stingrays to no shots on net during the two man advantage opportunities. Bird, who took one of the penalties, atoned for his mistake when he banged home a one-hop pass from Langan on an odd-man attack for his fifth of the season with two minutes to go.
Tad Kozun, who had scored his first of the season on Sunday against Florida, closed out the scoring when he deposited the puck into an empty net with less than a minute remaining to close out the scoring. It was the fifth consecutive game that the Solar Bears scored an empty net tally in.
Neither team connected on the power play as South Carolina finished 0-for-6 while Orlando went 0-for-3.
The Solar Bears don’t hit the ice again until Saturday when they travel down to Estero to take on the Everblades Saturday night. The Stingrays will also make an apearance in southwest Florida, hitting Hertz Arena to take on the Everblades on Wednesday and Friday nights.
Notes: With a goal and an assist in the contest, Langan extended his point streak to three games (4 goals, 2 assists)… Valleau pushed his scoring streak to three games (3 assists) with his helper on Piccinich’s tally… The victory was Windsor’s 27 in an Orlando jersey, tying him with John Curry for third place on the Orlando all-time wins list… Earlier on Tuesday, Windsor was named ECHL Goalie of the Week for the second week in a row… The Solar Bears are now 16-1-1-0 when scoring three or more goals in a game this season. They are also a perfect 12-0-0-0 when leading after two periods.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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