ORLANDO, FLA – Finding a way to win even when not playing at its best is what makes good team great. Then again there are nights when nothing seems to work.
Blake Kessel scored the lone Solar Bears goal Tuesday night (Photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing/Orlando Solar Bears)
Tuesday night at the Amway Center, the Orlando Solar Bears had one of those latter kind of nights and it cost them the chance to extend a winning streak.
Andrew Blazek converted a defensive turnover into the game-winning goal in the third period as the South Carolina Stingrays defeated the Solar Bears 2-1 in front of an announced crowd of 4,871. The win moved the Stingrays back into sole possession of fifth place in the ECHL’s East division over Orlando.
“We were very perimeter on the offense. We didn’t get inside on them. We had four shots in the second period and I think we had eight [in the third]. When you have to make a push, eight isn’t going to cut it,” Orlando head coach Vince Williams said. “We weren’t getting second and third chances on their goaltending. They just protected the middle of the ice, kept it to the outside, and that’s where we ended up playing most of the game tonight.”
Orlando (19-15-3-0, 41 points) carried a four-game winning streak into the contest against the Stingrays but Williams was looking for a better defensive effort. The Solar Bears did give him that effort, holding South Carolina (18-16-1-6, 43 points) to eleven first period shots on goalie Garret Sparks. The closest the Stingrays came to scoring happened in the waning seconds of the frame when Patrick Gaul deflected a shot over Sparks’ shoulder into the crease. As the puck rolled toward the net, defenseman Eric Baier stretched out and cleared it out of harm’s way.
Beyond an early fight between Orlando’s David Broll and South Carolina’s Scott Ford, the home fans were waiting for something to cheer for. It finally came early in the second when the Solar Bears killed off the front half of a four minute Stingrays power play created by a double minor called on Brock Montgomery for high sticking (a call against Caleb Herbert negated the back half).
The visitors got on the board 7:45 into the middle frame. It came when Andrew Rowe put the puck on the blade of teammate Wayne Simpson. Simpson found room at the edge of the faceoff circle and laced a wrist shot past Sparks on the goalie’s stick side.
The Stingrays had already limited the Solar Bears to seven shots in the first period and just two prior to Simpson’s eleventh score of the season in the second. Playing solidly in front of netminder Jeff Jakaitis, South Carolina’s defense allowed just two more pucks to reach the goal before the second intermission.
“I think it was a little bit of a different system that we had to go against. I think we were a little out of sorts,” Solar Bears defenseman Blake Kessel said. “I didn’t think it was a terrible game. I think a few of the situations we could have cleaned up and played a little bit tighter in the neutral zone.”
One of those situations that Kessel said needed to be cleaned up became the Solar Bears downfall. Early in the third, a turnover along the boards left the puck on Blazek’s stick. With a wide open lane to the net, Blazek skated right in and put a backhander over Sparks’ glove-side shoulder and into the top corner.
Down by two, Orlando needed a big push back but it never came. Part of it was because of the lack of whistles. In one stretch of continuous play, more than half the period went by without media timeouts when the coaches normally discuss strategy and adjustments.
“The problem was we were chasing the puck a lot. We weren’t able to make changes. When we had to go on the offense, we didn’t have enough gas,” Williams said. “We ended up dumping the puck in and then it just becomes contagious where you’re just absorbing and absorbing. We didn’t penetrate the ice. Our second guy in the forecheck just wasn’t there. We weren’t outnumbering them on offense.”
The Solar Bears finally got on the board with less than five minutes to go in regulation. Brett Findlay worked hard and got the puck which he fed to Jake Cepis cruising through the slot. Kessel saw an opening on the back side and Cepis sent a backhand pass to the big defenseman who lasered a shot past Jakaitis to cut the Stingrays lead in half.
“It was a good pickoff by Findlay in the offensive zone and he made a couple of nice passes,” Kessel said. “Jake Cepis was going down the wing and [I was] lucky enough that he had good vision to drop the puck off. He had a nice fake shot so their goalie was out of the net a little bit and I was able to sneak it over his blocker.”
Kessel’s score was as close Orlando would get as Jakaitis (18 saves) and the Stingrays’ defense shut the door. Sparks finished the night with 35 saves.
After a trip to Estero to battle the Florida Everblades on Wednesday, South Carolina will return to Orlando for a rematch on Friday.
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.