ORLANDO, FLA – It is very safe to say that if a team is playing either the Orlando Solar Bears or the Florida Everblades that no lead is really safe until the final horn is sounded. That was never more evident than on Sunday afternoon when the two teams met at the Amway Center less than 24 hours after completing a game the night before.
In a contest that saw three ties, two of which came in the final frame, and a two-goal swing in the middle period, Tyler Bird’s goal 1:10 into overtime gave the Orlando Solar Bears (24-17-3-0) a heart-stopping 5-4 win over the Florida Everblades (24-15-4-3) in front of an announced Super Sunday crowd of 3,696. Odeen Tufto and Hunter Fejes each scored two goals for the Solar Bears in regulation time.
Florida’s Blake Winiecki tallied a pair of scores before team captain John McCarron sent the game to extra time with his 22nd goal of the season with 33.2 seconds remaining in the final period.
Sunday’s contest was moved from its original 3 p.m. start time to 12 noon because of the “Big Game” but it did not seem to interfere with the normal intensity of contests between the two Sunshine State arch-rivals. There was still plenty of hard hitting and the usual bad blood that always surfaces.
There was just one goal scored in the opening stanza. It came at the 16:20 mark when McCarron circled along the side boards in the Orlando defensive zone before finding a path for a pass to Jake McLaughlin cutting into the high slot. McLaughlin put a shot at the Solar Bears net, being minded by Brad Barone, who was making his ninth consecutive start. The biscuit never got to Barone as Dylan Vander Esch diverted it to Winiecki who was off to the side of the cage. Winiecki received the puck and deposited it into the open side of the net for his 21st goal of the season and a 1-0 Everblades lead.
Just like the script from Saturday night’s game, the Solar Bears evened the score early in the second. At the 1:27 mark, Tufto and Joe Garreffa broke into the Florida end on an odd-man rush. Using Garreffa as a decoy, Tufto skated through the far side faceoff circle and whistled a shot past Everblades netminder Tomas Vomacka for his fourth tally of the year.
Florida came back quickly, regaining the lead just under two minutes later. T.J. Fergus started the play by sending the puck below the goal line to McCarron. McCarron proceeded to skate behind the net looking for a wraparound opportunity. With Barone sliding over to the post quickly, McCarron saw an option B: Winiecki. Winiecki had worked himself in behind an Orlando defender just outside the crease on the backside from where McCarron was. McCarron threaded the needle right to Winiecki’s stick blade and Winiecki again hit the open side for his second of the night and 22nd of the season.
The Everblades went looking for what they thought was an insurance tally and found it at the 7:16 mark of the period. Levko Koper and Joe Pendenza did the dirty, forcing a Solar Bears turnover behind their net. Pendenza then laid a perfect pass to the slot where Nathan Perkovich had gotten loose between two defenders and slammed the feed past Barone for his ninth and a 3-1 Florida lead.
With the game starting to get away from them, the Solar Bears needed a jolt of energy and it came from their power play. Orlando worked the puck around the perimeter to Michael Brodzinski at the point. He found a shooting lane and sent the puck on its way. Halfway through its flight, Bird got his stick on it, changing the trajectory. A split second later, Fejes, who was all alone at the top of Vomacka’s crease, redirected it a second time past the Everblades goalie for his eighth of the season to cut the deficit to one at 3-2. Brodzinski’s assist was a milestone point as it was his 100th career point as a member of the Solar Bears
Feeling renewed, the Solar Bears came out of the locker room to start the final frame hungry. That hunger was satisfied less than a minute in when Tristin Langan won an offensive zone faceoff to Bird who beat an Everblades opponent into the circle. Bird tapped it to Tufto who ripped a shot through traffic and past Vomacka for his second of the afternoon and fifth of the year to knot the score at 3-3.
Less than two minutes later, Orlando found itself on a penalty kill when Jake Transit was sent to the penalty box. It seemed like a perfect time for Florida to crush the hopes of the home fans but Fejes decided to take matters into his own hands. He stole the puck at center ice and created a two-on-one rush with Luke Boka. Boka was the decoy as Fejes did it all himself, skating into the faceoff circle to Vomacka’s left and blistering a wrister into the back of the net for his third shorthanded tally of the year (eighth in his time with Orlando) and ninth goal of the season.
Up by one for the first time in the contest, the Solar Bears continued to press for an insurance marker but Vomacka kept denying the home team. In all, he faced 18 Orlando shots in the third period, stopping 16 of them to keep the Everblades within striking distance.
The final minute of regulation was a frenzy of activity in the Orlando end. With Vomacka (36 saves on 41 shots in the game) on the bench for an extra attacker, the Everblades went after the game-tying goal with gusto. They hemmed Orlando in its defensive zone where Jake Jeremko eventually pushed the puck to the top of the crease. In the scramble, Winiecki tapped it to his left where McCarron was standing waiting to jam it between Barone’s right skate and the post for his 22nd of the year, sending the game to extra time.
It didn’t take long for the Solar Bears to send everyone on their way home. Luke McInnis sent a pass into the neutral zone to Fejes who sped off on a two-on-one with Bird. As the lone defender started to drift his way, Fejes saucered a pass to Bird who made a beeline for the cage. Bird got in close, made a move to his backhand before quickly going forehand to slip the puck under Vomacka’s left pad for his 12th of the season to win the game.
Barone made 22 saves to pick up his 17th win of the season, tying him with Tulsa’s Daniel Mannella for most victories so far during the 2021-22 campaign.
The Solar Bears have a couple of days off before they start a three-in-three weekend when Jacksonville visits the Amway Center on Thursday before the Indy Fuel visit the City Beautiful for games on Friday and Saturday.
Notes: Final shots were 41-26 in favor of Orando… The Everblades went 0-for-3 on the power play while the Solar Bears were 1-for-3… Orlando captain Kevin Lohan played in his 200th career professional game, 183 of them coming in a Solar Bears uniform… With the win, Orlando improved to 5-4-0-0 against Florida so far this season.
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