ESTERO, FLA – Through ten meetings between the Orlando Solar Bears and the Florida Everblades this season, Orlando’s power play had been nearly non-existent. In 37 chances, the Solar Bears had found the back of the net just once against their arch rivals.
Saturday night, that all changed when Orlando needed it the most.
Led by three power play goals in the third period and a short-handed tally in the second, the Solar Bears (31-22-6-3, 71 points) defeated the Everblades (41-16-2-3, 87 points) 5-3 in front of an announced crowd of 7,498 at Germain Arena. Brenden Miller led Orlando’s offensive attack with a pair of special teams goals while teammate Joe Perry added a goal and two assists and Eric Faille chipped in with four assists.
For Orlando, it was a statement game as much as it helped it maintain fourth place in the very tight South division standings. The win was the Solar Bears first on the road in six tries against the Everblades, sending a message that home ice in a potential playoff series between the two bitter rivals may not be as big a factor as first thought.
It was also a contest that tested the visitors from Central Florida as host Florida took the lead on three different occasions only to see Orlando even the score.
Just as they had done on Friday, the Everblades opened the scoring early in the first period. At the 4:44 mark, Stephen MacAulay turned a broken play into a highlight when he took the loose puck in the faceoff circle to the left of Solar Bears goalie Ryan Massa, spun quickly and fired a shot that eluded the netminder’s catching glove for MacAulay’s eighth goal of the season.
One night prior, the Solar Bears were not able to answer the early tally but on Saturday they had a response. It came 9:27 into the frame and was a product of some heavy pressure in the Florida defensive zone when Faille got control of the puck below the goal line and threaded a perfect pass to the slot side of the circle to the right of Everblades goalie Anthony Peters. Daniel Maggio was there to one time a blast through traffic and past Peters on the netminder’s blocker glove side for his third of the season.
The teams traded scoring chances throughout the rest of the period. Late in the stanza, an Everblades power play produced some intense pressure but it was Perry who was the hero on defense. He sold out to block two potentially dangerous shots by Zack Kamrass to keep the score even heading into the intermission.
Florida was not phased by Orlando’s more aggressive mindset and began the middle frame just as it had began the opening stanza. At the 3:20 mark, MacAulay was the playmaker again as he grabbed the puck along the halfboards and began skating toward the blueline. As he got to the middle of the face-off circle, MacAulay saw the defense back off so he curled toward the mid-slot area and ripped a shot into the back of the net for his second of the game and ninth of the year.
Just before the midpoint of the period, the Everblades went on a power play with a chance to increase their lead but it was the visitors who found the scoreboard. After losing the defensive zone faceoff, Faille hustled to take the puck away from two opponents and jetted up the ice. As he hit the Florida blueline, Faille made a cut and made a brilliant drop pass to Miller who had jumped up into the play. With the defense on its heels, Miller got into the slot and lasered a shot to the top corner of the net past Peters for his twelfth goal and a short-handed tally to boot.
With the score again tied, the intensity of the game rose and tempers began to get a bit short. Although nothing came of it at that point, tempers were getting to a fever pitch – a sign of things to come. Massa and Peters kept the scoresheet clean for the rest of the period, sending the game to the final frame even at three.
The Everblades again jumped on the Solar Bears in the opening minutes of the third, gaining their third lead of the contest 1:08 in when Brendan Harm cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Kevin Raine for his first professional goal. The score gave Florida its last lead of the night at 3-2.
The anger that had been building finally came to a head four minutes in when the Everblades’ Dalton Smith ran the Solar Bears’ Denver Manderson hard into the boards – a hit that earned Smith a minor penalty. Orlando’s Maggio stepped in to challenge Smith and the pair put on a show as haymaker punches flew all over the place in a battle that entertained the crowd.
On the ensuing Solar Bears power play, some tic-tac-toe passing by the visitors led to the game-tying score. Recently acquired Justin Buzzeo started the sequence, making a pass to Faille who was just off the crease to Peters’ right. As the goalie shifted over to that side, Faille quickly put the puck on the stick of Perry who pushed it into the open net for his 31st of the year and just Orlando’s second man advantage tally against the Everblades.
The usually letter perfect Everblades made a costly error when they were caught with too many men on the ice midway through the frame, giving the now confident Solar Bears power play unit another chance. Orlando made Florida pay when Chris Crane grabbed the rebound of a shot by Patrick Watling and on his second try beat Peters for his 16th goal of the season to put the Solar Bears ahead 4-3.
By this point, Massa had gotten himself together and was bent on making sure the lead would hold up. He began stopping everything thrown his way – everything that is that was not knocked down by his defense, which was now playing tight to make sure their netminder had plenty of support.
With just under five minutes left in regulation, Florida’s Harm was called for a double minor for high sticking when he caught Orlando’s Chris Bradley up high and drew blood. When Matt Hatch was nabbed for holding soon after, it gave the Solar Bears a two-man advantage. They converted for the third time in the period when Miller one-timed a pass from the circle to Peters’ left for his second of the night and the insurance goal Orlando needed to put the game away. The tally was his 13th of the season and gave him both a power play and a short-handed score in the same game.
Notes: Massa finished the night with 22 saves to earn the win while Peters stopped 35 shots in suffering the loss… The Solar Bears three power play goals in seven chances equaled a season high set back on January 14th against Alaska when they went 3-for-5 against the Aces… Florida’s power play, which scored twice on Friday, was held scoreless in three opportunities… With his four assists, Faille now has 101 career ECHL assists… Watling played in his 100th game as a member of the Solar Bears… With the win, the Solar Bears maintained their two point lead over South Carolina for fourth place in the division but gained no ground on third place Cincinnati, which rallied to beat Alaska in a shootout to sweep the series with the Aces… Orlando will stop back at home before heading out Monday to Glens Falls, New York for a Tuesday night battle against the Adirondack Thunder.
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