ORLANDO, FLA – It had been three games since Orlando Solar Bears forward Aaron Luchuk had last seen the scoresheet. Given his propensity for scoring, especially on the power play, and dishing out assists, it was strange to see him go that long without a point. Friday night at the Amway Center, he made up for it in style.
Luchuk scored a pair of goals and added an assist as Orlando (31-22-2-1) blasted the Eastern conference leading Florida Everblades (36-18-2-2) by a final of 8-3 in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 2,250. Linemate Tristin Langan had a huge night as well, scoring once and picking up three helpers to help Orlando equal the franchise for most goals scored in a home game, a fete that has only happened twice prior to Friday’s contest.
The third member of arguably the top line on the roster, Anthony Repaci, chipped in with a goal and an assist while Mark Auk and Tyler Bird both matched Repaci with a tally and a helper. Goalie Clint Windsor was solid between the pipes, stopping 40 of 43 Everblades shots.
The win helped the fourth place Solar Bears climb within .003 of third place Indy (.579), which was idle Friday night. It also pulled the Solar Bears to a point percentage of .576, keeping them within earshot of second place Greenville (.600) and ahead of fifth place Jacksonville (.552), which beat South Carolina 3-2 on Friday.
Orlando pulled a trick out of Florida’s bag by hitting the Everblades with three goals in the opening twenty minutes. The first one came off the stick of veteran Jerry D’Amigo at the 2:21 mark of the first. Out of a scramble in front of Florida netminder Devin Cooley’s cage, D’Amigo was able to jam the puck past defenseman Cody Sol’s left leg as the blueliner tried to help his goalie out. Initially the referee had waived off the goal thinking that was tied up but video replay show that not to be the case and the score was allowed. For D’Amigo, the tally was his ninth of the season.
The home team then went quick strike late in the frame, scoring a pair in a span of 42 seconds. Bird did the honors on the score at 16:10, taking a stretch pass from Nolan Valleau, skating into the Florida defensive zone and firing a shot from the faceoff circle to Cooley’s left and sneaking it through for his 13th of the year. Before the publis address announcement had even gotten past Bird’s name, Langan was on the doorstep to collect the rebound of a Mark Auk shot and deposited a backhander past Cooley for his 23rd and tying him with Luchuk for the team lead for the moment.
Florida’s Cole Sanford got the visitors on the board 44 seconds into the middle period. Alex Kile made the key play, a long pass from his defensive zone to the Orlando defensive blue line where Sanford collected it, skated into the left faceoff circle and zipped a shot past Windsor’s glove for his second of the season. That goal was matched quickly at 1:14 when Solar Bears defenseman Kevin Lohan made a good keep in of the puck found room to slide a pass across the low slot to Repaci. All Repaci had to do was redirect it into the open side of the cage for his sixth to restore the three-goal lead at 4-1.
Luchuk started his big night two and a half minutes later during an Orlando penalty kill. Defenseman Alexander Kuqali sent Luchuk out on a two-on-one break. Choosing to use a teammate as a decoy, Luchuk held the puck until he got into range and ripped a quick forehand past Cooley for his 24th of the season and his first shorthanded goal of the year. The tally was alson the end of the night for Florida’s Cooley, who was replaced by Jake Hildebrand after allowing five goals on 18 shots.
Two minutes and 45 seconds after Luchuk lit the red light, the home team increased its lead to 6-1. The play began with Michael Joly creating a turnover along the halfboards. He collected the loose puck and found team captain Chris LeBlanc all alone in front of the new netminder. A couple of stickhandling moves later, LeBlanc sent a backhander over a diving Hildebrand for his 11th goal of the season and the 45th of his career with the Solar Bears.
The onslaught of Orlando goals continued in the third period when Auk picked up his sixth of the year. He had activated up into the play and took a cross-ice feed from Luchuk. Auk sent it toward the net where it caromed off a Florida defender and in to make it 7-1.
The Everblades answered back at the 7:16 mark when its captain, John McCarron picked up the rebound of a shot by Marcus Vela that was blocked, curled in the slot and fired a backhander that handcuffed Windsor and trickled into the cage. The tally was McCarron’s league-leading 27th goal of the year.
Luchuk finished off Orlando’s scoring for the night at 10:18. Langan worked the puck to Repaci who carried it behind the net. As he came clear, he spotted Luchuk in front and threaded a pass to the big forward. Luchuk had enough time to gather the pass and picked a corner to beat Hildebrand for his second of the game and team-leading 25th of the season.
Myles Powell picked up the final lamp-lighter of the contest with 6:03 left in regulation. From below the goal line, Joe Pendenza fed the puck out to Powell who was nead the mid slot area. Powell did a little curl in and let some traffic clear in front of Windsor before firing low to the stick side for his 12th tally of the season to close out the goal column on the scoresheet.
The win for Windsor was his 19th this season, tying him for second in the ECHL for most wins by a netminder with Greenville’s Ryan Bednard who is currently on a callup to the AHL. The pair trail only Florida’s Hildebrand who has 20 victories during the 2020-21 campaign. It also tied him with Ryan Massa (2015-16) and Cal Heeter (2017-18) for third on the Solar Bears franchise list for most wins in a single season. Windsor also joined Massa as the only two Orlando goalies to eclipse the 2,000-save mark with the Solar Bears. Massa recorded 2,360 saves in his time in the City Beautiful while Windsor now stands at 2,008.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night at the Amway Center at 7 p.m. The game has been designated as Healthcare Heroes Appreciation Night.
Notes: Final shots were 43-38 in favor of Florida… The Everblades went 0-for-3 with the power play while the Solar Bears were 0-for-4… Luchuk’s 25 goals tied him with T.J. Foster (2015-16) for fourth most in a single season. His 63 points have him second in the ECHL this year and pushed him past Eric Faille 2015-16) for second most points in a single season… The two other times the Solar Bears scored eight goals in a home were on December 28, 2012 against Florida and on February 19, 2019 against Manchester… Orlando is now 8-11-2-1 against the Everblades this season with five more meetings remaining.
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