ESTERO, FLA – If there was any team in the ECHL that was looking forward to the calendar turning to 2016, it was the Orlando Solar Bears. Winless in their last six games, the Solar Bears needed a big change of luck if they were going to end the skid against the South division leading Florida Everblades.
Lucky for them, they had a huge helping of the Schwartz – Rylan Schwartz that is.
Playing in just his third game with Orlando, Schwartz scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Solar Bears (11-13-2-3, 27 points) to a 5-3 win over Florida Friday night at the Germain Arena. Defenseman Max Nicastro netted the game-winner with his third goal in two games midway through the third period.
The win did more than simply stop a lengthy losing streak for Orlando. It allowed the Solar Bears to pick up a much needed divisional win as well as finally proving that they could beat their in-state rivals from southwest Florida.
The host Everblades (22-10-0-0, 44 points) drew first blood midway through the opening period. It came when a Brant Harris shot was stopped by Orlando goalie Ryan Massa. The rebound came to Ryan Martindale who saw his first try also fended off but he followed the puck and finally shoved it home for his third goal of the season.
Knowing that playing from behind against the Everblades was not a good position to be in, the Solar Bears fought back to tie the score late in the stanza. Erik Bradford made the key play, threading a pass to the slot area where he found teammate Matt Rupert. Rupert took the feed and snapped a quick wrist shot high over the catching glove of Florida netminder Anthony Peters for his seventh of the year.
Orlando came out for the second period with a renewed sense of urgency and parlayed it into a pair of goals. It only took the Solar Bears1:09 to take the lead when Jack Rodewald, who had just returned from a callup to the AHL Toronto Marlies, got the puck to Schwartz who lifted it up and over Peters. Four minutes later, Schwartz was in the right place to redirect a blast from the point by defenseman Myles Harvey into the back of the net for his second of the game.
While Schwartz was doing the scoring, Massa was making his new teammate’s efforts stand up with a perfect period between the pipes. The defensemen in front of him tightened up, allowing Florida just seven shots on net in the frame and giving their goalie good looks at every one.
An early third period penalty to Orlando’s Zach Bell gave the Everblades an opportunity to get back into the contest and they did so when defenseman (and one time Solar Bear) Mark Nemec beat Massa at the 1:03 mark to make it 3-2.
Two and a half minutes later, Massa made a wrong move in clearing the puck from behind his net. It ended up on the stick of Gabriel Desjardins who banked the disc off of the goalie’s skate into the back of the cage from the corner. Desjardins’ sixth goal evened the score up at three with a little over sixteen minutes left.
In past games, opposition comebacks rattled the young Orlando team. This time however things would be different. A hooking penalty to Florida’s Logan Roe put the Solar Bears on their second power play of the game. Forty-nine seconds into the advantage, Eric Faille sent the puck back to Nicastro at the point and the big man with the big shot did the rest. He drove a missle on net that Peters (22 saves) could not stop to give the visitors from the City Beautiful the lead again.
The mostly partisan crowd of 5,621 at Germain Arena watched as the Everblades cranked up the offense in search of the game-tying score. This time around, Massa (22 saves) had the answer to each and every Florida shot. He made several key saves – including a flashy glove save on Rob Florentino – down the stretch to keep his team ahead.
The Everblades pulled Peters with just under a minute to go but Faille killed their hopes with an empty net tally with 47 seconds left to ice the win for Orlando.
The two teams will head back up to Orlando for games at the Amway Arena Saturday night at 7 pm and Sunday at 6 pm. Saturday’scontest will be aired live on WKMG-TV News 6 in Orlando.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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