KALAMAZOO, MI – The temperature outside Wings Event Center Friday night may have been in the teens but the way the Orlando Solar Bears have been playing on the road, there seems to be nothing that can cool them off.
Behind two goals and three points from Eric Faille and a pair of goals from rookie Tony Cameranesi, Orlando (16-7-2-0, 34 points) doubled up on the host Kalamazoo Wings (9-15-0-2, 20 points) by a final score of 6-3 in front of an announced crowd of 1,862. The victory was the Solar Bears fourth in a row and fifth overall on the team’s current road trip.
Goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo remained hot as well, picking up his fifth consecutive victory between the pipes. Despite a rough patch early in the second period, the rookie netminder was otherwise sharp, making a season-high 41 saves.
As they have been throughout much of the road trip, the visiting Solar Bears came out strong in the first period and scored first. Just 1:52 into the opening frame, Cameranesi took a feed from Faille and busted down the left wing, cut to the net and slid the puck past Wings goalie Nic Riopel.
Cameranesi’s tally, his tenth of the season, began an onslaught of tens in the opening frame for Orlando. At the 6:27 mark of the stanza, Brett Findlay slipped a pass to Denver Manderson in the slot and the big forward blew a wrist shot into the back of the net for his tenth and a two goal lead.
Orlando’s penalty killers, who have been just as proficient in scoring as they have been in keeping the opposition off the board, struck again when Faille outraced a Kalamazoo defender for the puck, swooped to the front of the net and scooped the puck over Riopel’s left shoulder at 14:09 to make it 3-0. For Faille, it was his tenth score of the season and 34th tally in a Solar Bears uniform.
A late Wing penalty gave the Solar Bears a chance with the power play right before the first intermission and the visitors made the home team pay. Taylor Doherty sent a pass down the boards to Cameranesi who made a beeline from the goal line to the front of the cage. Once there, he lifted the puck over Riopel with 5.8 seconds left in the period for his second of the night and a 4-0 Orlando lead at the break.
The Wings began a comeback early in the second period with a flurry that probably had Solar Bears fans a bit worried. After killing a penalty, Lane Scheidl – who was the man in the penalty box – came out and sent a drive toward the Orlando net where Peter Schneider redirected it past Kaskisuo for his third of the season at the 2:16 mark. Thirty-two seconds later, Scott Henegar converted the rebound of a shot by former Solar Bear Tyler Biggs for his fifth of the year.
Feeling momentum on their side, the Wings pulled within 4-3 at the 5:19 mark when Scheidl took a pass from Josh Pitt and sent a rocket past Kaskisuo for his sixth of the year.
The Solar Bears needed an answer to stem the tide and got it 28 seconds later. Once again it was Findlay making the key pass, putting the puck on the tape of Joe Perry who snapped off a shot that found paydirt for his team-leading fifteenth goal of the season. More importantly, it gave Orlando a little breathing room at 5-3 – a lead the Solar Bears took into the second intermission.
The third period was wide open as the teams combined for twenty shots on net. Kaskisuo, who had regained his swagger after the third Kalamazoo goal early in the second, was rock solid. He made ten saves in the final frame, giving his team a big boost.
Riopel (18 saves) was also strong between the pipes but was not able to keep Faille off the board when he broke in alone off a lob pass and tucked the puck under the Wings goalie for his second of the game, eleventh of the season and 35th career goal with the Solar Bears, tying him with Brady Vail and Jake Cepis – who were passed by Findlay on Wednesday in Wheeling – for second place on the ECHL franchise goals scored list.
Notes: Orlando cooled off just a touch on the power play, going 1-for-5 and ending its run of two man advantage score games at three. Kalamazoo went 0-for-4 with the power play… Twelve different Solar Bears had at least one point in the game… More than fifty Solar Bears season ticket holders gathered at the Sanford-Orlando Kennel Club for the team’s first watch party of the season… Orlando and Kalamazoo will finish their two-game set Saturday night at the Wings Event Center with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
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