ESTERO, FLA – On the heels of a solid win on Tuesday morning, the Orlando Solar Bears headed southwest to Estero to take on their bitter in-state rivals, the Florida Everblades. Wednesday night’s battle was the first of a four game run of battles between the two clubs with the first three coming at Hertz Arena.
For forty minutes, the visitors from the City Beautiful had things under control but when all was said and done, it was the Everblades who had the last bite.
Goals by Ben Masella and Justin Auger in a span of 34 seconds late in the third period gave Florida (6-3-0-0) a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Orlando in front of an announced crowd of 4,420. Michael Brodzinski and Mikhail Shalagin had a goal each for the Solar Bears (3-5-0-1) while goalie Clint Windsor deserved a better fate as he stopped 36 of 38 Everblades shots in suffering the loss.
The defeat was especially painful as the Solar Bears built a two goal lead but saw it slip away as the Everblades potted a goal before the second period ended, setting up the late heroics.
Unlike the last time the two teams met in Estero, the Solar Bears did not appear to have “bus legs” during the opening period. The initial twenty minutes were a harbinger of things to come as Windsor, who was making his second start in net for Orlando, and Florida’s Cam Johnson both set up walls in front of their respective nets.
Each netminder had memorable saves during the frame. Johnson started the battle by stoning Orlando’s Colby McAuley on a clean break-in from the Everblades’ defensive blueline. Windsor had arguably his best moment later in the stanza when he turned away a pair of shots by Florida defenseman Michael Downing, one on a shot from the faceoff circle and seconds later on a rebound attempt.
With less than three minutes remaining in the period, the visitors got on the board first. Peter Abbandonato cleanly won an offensive zone faceoff back to the point to Brodzinski. Without hesitating, Brodzinski stepped into a one-time slap shot that sailed by the blocker glove of Johnson for the blueliner’s first goal of the season.
Johnson was able to keep the deficit at one early in the second period when he denied the Solar Bears’ Tristin Langan from in close. The Florida netminder was not so lucky a few minutes later when Ryan Lohin fed a pass to Shalagin low in the right faceoff circle. Shalagin, who was playing in just his third game with Orlando, snapped off a shot that beat Johnson for his first ECHL tally at the 5:43 mark. For the 2019 7th round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was his first professional goal and point in North America.
While Shalagin was scoring, Windsor was continuing to frustrate the Everblades at the other end of the ice. He was making all the stops he had to make and added in a spectacular glove save on what looked to be a sure goal for the Everblades’ Kyle Neuber.
Windsor’s plans for a shutout ended with just under two minutes remaining before the second intermission. At the end of a spurt of pressure in the Orlando defensive zone, Blake Winiecki sent the puck low to John McCarron along the boards. McCarron turned and fired the disc along the goal line toward the net. Somehow it managed to find its way past Windsor for the crafty forward’s second of the season. The score cut the deficit for the home team to 2-1 heading to the final frame.
Smelling blood in the water, the Everblades came out of the locker room at the start of the third period and put Orlando back on its heels. The shots quickly piled up on Windsor but he was able to hold the fort. Midway through the stanza, Johnson (26 saves) robbed the Solar Bears’ Tyler Bird of a would be goal, a miss that Bird and his teammates would soon pay for because of Johnson’s brilliance.
With the clock winding down inside of five minutes left in regulation, Florida found its scoring magic just when it was needed. McCarron won an offensive zone draw and the puck slid back toward the high slot. Masella moved in and collected the biscuit, danced around a defender and fired a shot that beat Windsor between the legs. For the Everblades defenseman, it was his first goal of the year but more importantly it evened the score at 2-2.
Seconds later, the Everblades were on the hunt for a go-ahead tally and got it when Winiecki got the puck to Auger of the outer edges of the right faceoff circle. Auger ripped a shot that beat Windsor’s glove hand for the forward’s fifth goal of the season and the lead.
Orlando, which had recorded just four shots on net in the first sixteen minutes of the last period, tried desperately to reignite its offense but found the Everblades defense and Johnson to be too tough to penetrate. Even with Windsor pulled for an extra attacker, the Solar Bears were only able to get two pucks to Johnson in the remaining time and he fended off both to preserve the victory.
Notes: Final shots were 38-28 in favor of Florida… Neither team was successful on the power play as the Solar Bears went 0-for-3 while the Everblades went 0-for-2… With its perfect penalty kill, Orlando extended its streak of games without allowing a power play goal to six games… Florida’s line of Winiecki, McCarron and Auger accounted for two goals and four assists while being on the ice for all three scores… The two teams will meet up again down in Estero on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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