ESTERO, FLA – Feeling their oats with a three-game winning streak in their back pockets, the Orlando Solar Bears rode into the Hertz Arena on Wednesday night looking for their fourth win of the season against the Florida Everblades. In two previous visits to southwest Florida, Orlando had come away with three of a possible four points so the visitors were confident that another victory could be had.
Unfortunately, the Solar Bears forgot to take into account that they were facing the best team in the ECHL – and the Everblades reminded their in-state rivals just how good they are, especially at home.
Led by the first career multi-point game from Cliff Pu and points from nine other players, Florida (34-11-5-0) scored early and often, downing Orlando (25-19-3-0) 5-2 in front of an announced crowd of 4,523. Mathieu Foget and Akim Aliu scored for the Solar Bears in the closing minutes of the contest, well beyond the point that the game had been decided.
With newly crowned ECHL Goalie of the Week Martin Ouellette making his seventh straight start between the pipes, Orlando Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky felt confident that at least one part of the lineup was on solid ground. The rest, however, was less than a sure thing after forwards Jonne Tammela (AHL Syracuse) and Colby McAuley (AHL San Jose) were recalled on Tuesday. In their stead – and thanks to a few injuries – Berehowsky went with nine forwards including David Mazurek who was signed off the roster of the SPHL’s Fayetteville Marksmen and defenseman Cody Donaghey playing up front.
The Everblades asserted themselves from the opening faceoff, scoring the game’s first goal a mere 2:22 after the puck drop. An Orlando turnover in the neutral zone became an odd-man rush into the Solar Bears end where Joe Cox dropped a pass to Kyle Platzer who was the trailer. Platzer skated into the slot and rifled a shot past Ouellette’s blocker glove for his 21st goal of the season.
Florida doubled its lead just past the midpoint of the opening frame thanks to a power play opportunity. With Aliu in the penalty box, Everblades captain and Solar Bears nemesis John McCarron redirected a point shot by Platzer home for his 21st of the season. It was a particularly skillful play as McCarron got his stick on the flying disc in mid-flight toward the net, changing its path just enough to fool the Orlando netminder.
Following a late frame bout between Orlando’s Trevor Olson and Florida’s Tommy Thompson, the Everblades completed their three-goal blitz when Blake Winiecki faked a pass to the slot and fired on the Solar Bears net from the faceoff circle to Ouellette’s left. The puck caught part of the near-side post and slipped through the goalie for Winiecki’s 13th and a 3-0 lead for the home team heading to the second period.
Berehowsky replaced Ouellette (13 saves, loss) with Corbin Boes to start the middle frame, hoping for a change in momentum. The idea was a good one but the execution by the Solar Bears defense failed when Pu drove to the front of the net along the goal line with the puck. Boes made two saves but Pu collected the second rebound and put it in for his first career ECHL goal at the 4:29 mark.
Another Orlando penalty just after the middle point of the frame became a chance for the home team to move out to a five-goal lead and they did just that. Former Solar Bear Brenden Miller took a pass at the blueline and ripped a shot at the net. Thompson was in the perfect place to get his stick blade on the puck and send it past Boes for his 12th and the Everblades’ second man advantage tally of the night.
While all this was going on, Florida netminder Jamie Phillips was having himself a good night. After stopping all eight shots the Solar Bears put on him in the first, Phillips knocked away ten more in the second for a forty minute total of 18 saves and a clean sheet through two periods of play.
Phillips (28 saves) continued his mastery in the third, continually frustrating the Orlando offense as the Solar Bears tried to open the game up. A fight between Orlando captain Mike Monfredo and the Everblades Derek Sheppard entertained the home crowd halfway through the final twenty minutes, momentarily shifting the focus away from Phillips’ efforts.
The Solar Bears finally broke Phillips’ spell with less than five minutes left when Foget took a feed from Kevin Lohan and sped out on a breakaway. Foget, the current team leader in short-handed tallies, added to his total when he beat Phillips for his third shorty and 14th goal of the season (13 coming with Orlando) to cut the margin to 5-1.
With less than a minute remaining, veteran defenseman Aliu netted his first ECHL goal since the 2016-17 season – when he played for the Everblades – for his first as a member of the Solar Bears. It was a play filled with individual effort as Aliu carried the puck into the Florida end and got decked as he made a pass. Aliu got up and continued on, getting into position to cash in the rebound of a shot by Alex Schoenborn with 12.8 seconds to go.
Notes: Final shots were 43-30 in favor of Florida… The Solar Bears went 0-for-3 on the power play while the Everblades were 2-for-5… With the loss, Orlando fell back into fourth place in the South division, one point behind South Carolina and Jacksonville and seven points ahead of fifth place Norfolk… Ouellette’s Goalie of the Week honor was the fourth time in his career that he has won the weekly award. He joined Cal Heeter, Garret Sparks and John Curry (twice) as Solar Bears netminders being named best goalie of the week in ECHL play… Both teams return to action on Friday as Florida hosts Manchester while Orlando is back at the Amway Center to take on Jacksonville for the fourth time in a week. The Solar Bears won all three meetings last week.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.