ORLANDO, FL – Statistics can tell stories that confirm what one sees right in front of them. Sometimes, they tell stories that are not so visible to the naked eye. Then there are times when the numbers tell a story that can be downright coincidental or odd.
Orlando’s Martins Dzierkals (black jersey) celebrates after his game-winning goal Monday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Right now, the story the stats tell about Orlando Solar Bears rookie forward Martins Dzierkals is simply strange but in a way intriguing.
Monday night, Dzierkals scored the game-winning goal and added an assist to lead the Solar Bears (26-25-5-1, 58 points) to a come-from-behind 5-3 win over the visiting Norfolk Admirals (21-30-5-1, 48 points) in front of an announced crowd of 4,083 at the Amway Center. Defenseman Sam Jardine tallied the trying score and picked up a helper and goalie Mackenzie Skapski made 31 saves as Orlando evened its record at home during the month of February at 5-5 but more importantly drew back to .500 at 12-12-3-1 on the season in its home building.
With the win, the Solar Bears moved ahead of the idle Atlanta Gladiators (57 points) Â into third place in the hotly contested ECHL South division. It is the highest Orlando has been in the standings since October 22nd.
Looking at the numbers, the native of Ogre, Latvia has scored twelve goals during the 2017-18 ECHL regular season. What makes the rookie’s achievement noteable is that the Solar Bears are now 11-0 when he lights the goal light.
“I kind of saw somewhere the statistic about that. It’s nice but I don’t think about it that way,” Dzierkals said with a smile following the contest. “I’m just trying to help the team as much as I can.”
The fact that Dzierkals, affectionately known as the “Latvian Lightning Bolt” with his speed and deadly scoring touch, scored with just over eight minutes left in regulation to put his team back in front for good tells a tale of three games in one. The Solar Bears were pretty dominant in the first and third periods but had issues in the middle frame, allowing the Admirals to score three times – twice on the power play – to take the lead and force the home team to stage a comeback.
Looking for a third straight win, its first such streak since early January, Orlando came out firing pucks at will at Norfolk netminder Jamie Murray. Murray held the fort until the 5:47 mark of the opening period when the Solar Bears struck. Josh Winquist set the play up by carrying the puck toward the mid-slot area in the Admirals defensive zone. As a defender approached him, Winquist dropped a pass to Kristian Pospisil who used a moving screen by Max Novak to beat Murray with a top corner snipe for his 12th goal of the season.
Late in the frame, Norfolk’s Thomas Frazee took a penalty that gave the Solar Bears their second power play of the first twenty minutes. It took only 37 seconds of man advantage time for Orlando to click when Winquist saucered a perfect pass to defenseman Alex Gudbranson at the top of the circle to Murray’s right. Gudbranson nailed a one-time blast that beat the netminder to the short side inside the post for the blueliner’s 3rd tally of the year and a 2-0 margin that the Solar Bears took to the intermission.
“I liked the way we came out [in the first period]. I thought we started well,” Solar Bears head coach and general manager Drake Berehowsky said about his team’s start.
The second period was a different story. Although Orlando once again took advantage of an early power play to pump rubber at Murray, the Norfolk goalie was up to the task. His effort allowed the Admirals to begin a comeback that left the home crowd stunned. It began at the 8:01 mark of the frame when Frazee won a defensive zone faceoff and pushed the puck ahead to former Solar Bear Darik Angeli. Angeli did the rest, busting through the neutral zone and using a defender as a screen to laser a shot past a surprised Skapski for his 20th goal of the season to make it 2-1.
Less than a minute later, the first of three penalties called against Orlando in the stanza came back to bite the hosts. About a minute into the advantage, Brodie Dupont threaded a cross-ice pass to Grant Besse who fired a shot on net. Skapski madethe save but Domenic Alberga was in the right spot to score on the rebound for his 9th of the season to even things up.
Norfolk’s Domenic Alberga (center) looks for position between Orlando goalie Mackenzie Skapski and defenseman Sam Jardine (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
The Admirals then took the lead with two minutes left before the second intermission. Playing with another power play, Angeli got the puck in the corner. For some reason, the seas parted, allowing the forward to skate unchallenged to the front of the net where he put the puck between Skapski’s legs for his second of the night and 21st of the year. The score gave Norfolk a 3-2 lead at the break.
“I think we took the momentum away from ourselves with penalties. That always kills us,” Berehowsky said about the letdown in the middle frame. “Guys can’t get into their rhythm or stay in their rhythm. When we’re rolling and we’re staying I guess more disciplined, everyone’s in a rhythm, everyone’s getting out onto the ice.”
The final twenty minutes started as an even battle as the Admirals tried to slow the game down while the Solar Bears wanted to pick up the tempo. Orlando thought its might have the equalizer when Novak got loose for a breakaway but his shot from in close missed the net.
With time ticking toward the midpoint of the frame, the Solar Bears – particularly Jardine – saw an opportunity and seized on it to tie the game. With teammates Dzierkals and Chris LeBlanc working the puck in deep and seeing a line change in progress, Jardine jumped in to support the play. Eventually LeBlanc pushed the puck to Jardine who had nothing but empty ice between him and the goal crease. The Lacombe, Alberta native walked the puck to the front where he took four whacks at it before jamming the puck in past Murray for his 3rd goal of the season.
“I was kind of jumping up on the rush. I noticed that our third forward was going for a change so I was just trying to make it a more even rush for our guys,” Jardine said. “Blanker [LeBlanc] ended up getting heavy over the puck behind the net and I did alow cycle with him. I saw a little lane to the net, took it there and started whacking away and thankfully after the third ot fourth whack it finally went in.”
Orlando could sense that the visitors were back on their heels and aggressively went after regaining the lead. Just under two minutes after Jardine’s score, Dzierkals and LeBlanc were digging in the corner with Joe Perry out in the slot. LeBlanc got loose and put the puck on Perry’s stick blade and while Dzierkals curled into the low part of the faceoff circle to Murray’s left. Perry immediately sent the disc to Dzierkals and with just enough room, he nailed the top corner of the net for the eventual game-winner.
“All three forwards on our line worked hard to get the puck in there [deep]. We fought for it in the corner and Blanker put the puck out [in front of] the net,” Dzierkals said. “I went [out] there and Perry just stopped it for me and I just had to shoot and it went in.”
Orlando defenseman Sam Jardine had the game-tying goal in Monday’s Solar Bears win (Photo courtesy of FernandoMedina / Orlando Solar Bears)
From there, it was up to Skapski to hold the lead and he did, making six big saves down the stretch. With exactly a minute left in regulation, J.J. Piccinich sealed the victory with an empty net goal for his 14th tally of the season.
Asked about what it meant to get the home record back to even level, Jardine said that it was an important step for both the team and the fans.
“We take a lot of pride in the product that we’re trying to put on home ice especially. It hasn’t always gone our way and it’s frustrating,” Jardine said. “I think we’ve learned a lot from some of our home losses because those ones hurt a little bit more. With the injuries we have right now and some real key guys that we have called up right now, I think you’re seeing some character coming out from our dressing room in grinding out these close wins. Early in the year, we didn’t always get those wins. We stuck with it and we’re happy with getting these close wins right now but we need to stay consistent and get prepared for next weekend.”
Next up for the Solar Bears is a two-game set with the Reading Royals, who will visit the Amway Center on Thursday at 7 p.m.and next Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Notes: Orlando finished the game with a 46-34 shot advantage over Norfolk… Both teams connected on the power play with the Admirals going 2-for-4 and the Solar Bears 1-for-4… Orlando finished the season series against Norfolk with a 3-3-0-1 record… With two assists, the Solar Bears Winquist sits at 49 points for the season.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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