GREENVILLE, SC – The Orlando Solar Bears had hoped to end the pre-Christmas part of their 2015-2016 season on a winning note. To that end, they put together arguably their best 28-minute stretch of play in the past few games and appeared to be getting their wish. Unfortunately, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits still had 32 minutes of play and plenty of coal waiting for Orlando’s stockings.
Jack Combs notched his first hat trick of the season to lead a balanced attack as the Swamp Rabbits (13-12-3-0, 29 points) came from behind to down the Solar Bears (10-11-2-3, 25 points) 7-4 Sunday afternoon at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Greenville scored five unanswered goals after being down 3-0 midway through the second period to take charge and sweep the two-game weekend set at home.
For Orlando, which got two goals from Johnny McInnis inthe loss, it was a disappointing way to both finish up a six-game road trip and the first third of the season. The Solar Bears went 1-4-1-0 on the trip against South division opponents as well as going winless in their final four games before the holiday break.
After a scoreless first period which featured an amped-up Orlando offensive attack (the Solar Bears outshot the Swamp Rabbits 17-10 in the frame) that featured goalies Ryan Massa and Greenville’s P.J. Musico, the visitors opened the scoring 1:52 into the second when during a power play, T.J. Foster fed a pass back to defenseman Max Nicastro who unloaded a bomb of a shot that beat Musico to the stick side. It was Nicastro’s second goal of the season and the team’s first man advantage goal on the trip.
Just under five minutes later, some nifty tic-tac-toe passing between McInnis, Erik Bradford and Christopher Clapperton led to McInnis’ sixth score of the year at the 6:45 mark. Less than 90 seconds later, Brenden Miller made a cross-slot feed to Matt Rupert who let loose with a hard wrist shot that found the back of the net to give the Solar Bears a three goal lead. For Rupert, it was his sixth goal of the season.
The Swamp Rabbits stayed composed and when Clapperton went to the penalty box less than a minute later, they capitalized when Michael St. Croix (three assists) fed Combs for a shot that beat Massa to trim the lead to 3-1.
Combs’ 13th goal of the year opened the floodgates for Greenville. A bad line change by Orlando allowed Joey Holka to take a stretch pass and break in all alone on Massa. Holka put the puck in for his second goal in as many games and what had once been a comfortable looking lead for the Solar Bears was now down to one.
Two minutes later, Ryan Rashid set up teammate Darian Dziurzynski who scored his fourth of the year to even the score a little more than five minutes after Orlando had gone up by three. Massa held the fort for the rest of the period, giving his team a chance in the final frame to still take home a win.
Orlando’s hopes were quickly dashed in the third. Bretton Cameron broke the tie with his ninth goal just 41 seconds into the period and was followed thirty seconds later by Richard Nejezchleb’s second tally of the season as the Swamp Rabbits went up 5-3.
Bowed but not quite broken, the Solar Bears got a chance to get back into the game with a power play and McInnis did the honors, converting the rebound of a blocked shot off the stick of Foster for his second of the game. There was still fourteen minutes left in regulation and with the momentum from the goal, Orlando thought it might just get the tying score.
The Swamp Rabbits had other ideas though, and when Combs batted the puck at the net and it trickled through Massa (23 saves), the home team was back in front by two with less than nine minutes to go. Musico (40 saves) was able to make the lead stand up by continually fending off Orlando shots down the stretch.
With Massa pulled in the closing minutes, Combs completed his hat trick with an empty net goal with 1:36 left to cap the scoring.
Josh Nicholls chipped in with three assists to help Greenville’s cause while Foster and Brady Vail each collected two assists for Orlando.
Both teams are now off until after Christmas. The Swamp Rabbits hit the ice again on Saturday on the road against Atlanta while the Solar Bears will host division leading Florida at the Amway Center on Sunday.
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