ORLANDO, FLA – When two teams such as the Orlando Solar Bears and the Florida Everblades match up well offensively, the difference in a game can come down to which side best uses its special teams. A power play goal or a short-handed tally can be the difference between winning and losing.
Orlando’s Nik Brouillard (left) and Florida’s Curt Gogol tangled at the end of Saturday’s second period(Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Saturday night at the Amway Center, the visiting Everblades (27-8-1-2, 57 points) got key contributions from their special teams not to mention two goals from Brendan O’Donnell to beat Orlando (20-15-4-2, 46 points) 5-2 in front of an announced crowd of 8,140. The win was Florida’s second in as many nights over its in-state rival and gave the Everblades a 6-2 lead in the battle for the Wawa Sunshine Cup.
For the second straight game, the Everblades hit the Solar Bears for two power play scores. They also got a short-handed tally from Matt Hatch, which was matched by a man-down goal off the stick of Orlando’s Eric Baier.
The Solar Bears’ power play, which appeared to making positive strides on the recent road trip, came up empty in seven attempts to run its weekend total to 0-for-10. In eight games against the Everblades, Orlando has failed to score in 34 chances with the man advantage.
“I know we were lacking [and] creating on the power play – not even creating [but] burying [the puck] and just scoring. Sometimes you go through droughts,” Baier said of the team’s struggles. “Specifically against Florida, I thought we were getting chances. We were getting some quality chances and we were creating some offense. I thought we were getting a lot of good momentum – that’s always a good gauge. It’s one of those things. We’ve got to battle through it.”
For the second consecutive game, the Everblades tried to run out quickly and take the game away from Orlando. The onslaught began 2:14 into the opening period when on a 5-on-3 man advantage, Zach Kamrass set up Akim Aliu for a one-time blast that beat Solar Bears netminder Ryan Massa through a screen for the defenseman’s fifth goal of the season. It came just 11 seconds after the two-man advantage began – a time frame that would reappear later in the contest.
Hatch inserted his name onto the scoresheet late in an Orlando power play when he blocked a shot from the point and sped away on a clean breakaway. He drove straight for the net, froze Massa with a fake and fired high to the top corner on the goalie’s blocker side for his third tally since joining the Everblades. One minute and 41 seconds later, O’Donnell began his night by fighting off a defender and popping the puck over Massa, who was going for a poke check, for his team-leading 24th goal at the 8:52 mark.
“I didn’t like our start,” Solar Bears head coach Drake Berehowsky said about his team’s first period performance.
Down by three, the Solar Bears came out in the second with much more bite to their game but Everblades goalie Anthony Peters was ready and willing to take on the challenge. He held off Orlando’s offense as it threw twelve shots on him during the front half of the stanza. Peters’ work allowed his teammates time to increase the lead to 4-0 when O’Donnell took a drop pass from Michael Kirkpatrick and whistled a wrist shot between the legs of a defenseman and past Massa on the goalie’s glove hand side for his second of the game and 25th of the season.
Faced with a similar situation to Friday’s game, Orlando began to dig its way back into the contest. At the 10:30 mark, Milos Bubela carried the puck into the Florida end but lost the disc in the high slot. Darik Angeli was following right behind and snapped off a hard shot that zipped past Peters for his seventh of the season and fourth in a Solar Bears uniform.
“I was kind of at the end of my shift. Bubs (Bubela) made a good play driving the net,” Angeli said. “It just kind of fell to me. Coach harps on shooting it so I just shot it and luckily it went in.”
Late in the period, the teams were playing four-on-four thanks to overlapping penalties when the home team drew a bit closer. As the Florida penalty ended, Baier intercepted the puck and made a quick drive into the faceoff circle to Peters’ left. He stood up a defender with a hard fake before dipping to the base of the circle and catching the goalie with a short side shot into the top corner for his fourth tally of the season. Since the Florida player had exited the penalty box, Baier had himself a short-handed score.
Orlando’s push from the second frame extended into the third as the home team rained pucks onto Peters. Thanks to a pair of power plays by the midpoint of the period, the Solar Bears had registered 14 shots on net but the Everblades netminder knocked away every single one on the way to a 17-save period and a 44-save night.
A late penalty on Orlando created one last power play for Florida and the visitors again took just 11 seconds to light the goal light. Off an offensive zone draw, Kamrass fired a shot that Massa stopped but the rebound fell behind him in the crease. Before anyone else could get to it, Kirkpatrick swept the puck into the net for his 13th of the season to close out the scoring.
Massa, who was playing in his first game since January 6th in Colorado due to an undisclosed ailment, finished the night with 34 saves. He was, according to Berehowsky, a bright spot in an otherwise long night.
“I thought he played well. I think we kind of left him a little hung out to dry in the first period. After that I thought the whole team kind of picked it up,” Berehowsky said of Massa. “Our starts haven’t been the greatest. We’ve got to come back and figure out how to get them better.”
Notes: With his goal, Baier moved within two points of becoming the fourth Solar Bears player and first defenseman to reach 100 points during the ECHL incarnation of the franchise… The announced attendance of 8,140 was the second largest crowd to take in a game at the Amway Center this season… The Solar Bears are off until Thursday when the two-time defending ECHL Kelly Cup champion Allen Americans visit Central Florida for the first time ever.
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