ORLANDO, FLA – Last Monday, forward Joe Garreffa was loaned by the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda to the Orlando Solar Bears, who were again in a tight spot with available players. Garreffa had gotten into just a handful of games in San Jose with not much to show but Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky was confident that a return to the City Beautiful would be what Garreffa needed.
Saturday night at the Amway Center, Garreffa rewarded his coach’s confidence in a big way.
Garreffa scored twice in the third period, bringing the Solar Bears (9-5-1-0) back from a deficit and keying a 4-3 shootout victory over the Norfolk Admirals (7-6-0-1) in front of an announced holiday weekend crowd of 6,432. Luke Boka had the other regulation time goal for Orlando while Aaron Luchuk and Tristan Langan lit the lamp in the skills competition for the home team.
Goalie Brad Barone also played a key role in Orlando’s victory, posting his second 50-save night in ten days. Eleven of the stops came during the seven minute three-on-three overtime period that included an Admirals power play and a couple of clean breakaways by the visitors.
The Solar Bears opened the scoring 4:42 into the first period when defenseman Cole Moberg forced a Norfolk turnover in the Admirals defensive end. The puck slid to Luchuk who carried it down low. Just before ducking behind the net, Luchuk centered a pass to a wide open Boka at the top of the crease. Boka buried it behind Admirals goalie Beck Warm for his fourth of the season.
Norfolk struck back with a pair of tallies in a span of just under two minutes to take the lead. The first came on a power play that began seconds after Boka’s score. Midway through the advantage, Alex Tonge made a pass from the backboards behind the Orlando net to Cody Milan who drilled a shot from the slot into the cage for his second of the year.
Shortly thereafter, Milan and Tonge began a breakout with Milan carrying the puck into the Solar Bears end. Milan slid it to Tonge who cut for the net and fired it over Barone’s right shoulder as the netminder started to follow Tonge move across the slot. For Tonge, it was his seventh of the season.
Down by one as the middle frame started, Orlando picked up the pace offensively. Unfortunately for the Solar Bears, Warm was stopping everything thrown his way. He turned aside all 18 shots recorded by Orlando in the period.
Warm’s teammates rewarded him with what looked to be an insurance goal late in the period. It came when Kyle Rhodes put a harmless shot on Barone from the far side faceoff circle. Barone made the save but the rebound kicked out into the near side circle. Noah Corson got to the puck ahead of two Solar Bears defenders and one-timed a shot past Barone’s glove side for his fourth and a 3-1 Norfolk lead.
The Solar Bears needed to respond in the third and Garreffa made it his job to do. At the 7:42 mark, the Admirals wound the puck around the boards in their end. Canon Pieper saw it coming toward the blue line and pinched in. Pieper got control and fed it to a wide open Garreffa who ripped it into the back of the cage for his first of the season to trim the deficit to 3-2.
Seven minutes later, Garreffa was in the right place again when Luke McInnis stepped into a low, hard shot from the point. Warm (38 saves) made the stop but the rebound filtered out through some traffic to the base of the circle to his left. Garreffa seized control of the puck and roofed a shot over Warm’s left shoulder into the top of the net for his second of the game, tying the score at 3-3.
Neither team found a game-winning goal in the final 5:20, sending the contest into overtime. During the first two minutes of the extra period, Barone made a pair of spectacular saves on break-ins by Darien Craighead and Milan. Both tried to get the goalie moving and slid the puck along the ice but Barone answered with his left leg closing off the space. For good measure, Barone stopped a rebound attempt by Corson off of the Milan shot.
Surviving being outshot 11-4 in the overtime thanks to Barone, the Solar Bears wanted to finish the job in the shootout. After a scoreless first round, Luchuk went stick side to beat Warm but Craighead answered with a score of his own. In the third, Langan went five-hole on Warm to give Orlando the advantage. Barone then finished off the evening with a glove save off of a try by Eric Williams to secure the victory.
With the win, the Solar Bears extended their streak to six victories to start the season at home. The teams will meet again Sunday afternoon at the Amway Center at 3 p.m. in game three of their four-game set.
Notes: Final shots were 53 to 42 in favor of Norfolk… The Admirals went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Solar Bears went 0-for-3… The two goal night was the first of Garreffa’s pro career… Luchuk had two assists, his sixth time this season he has recorded multiple points in a game… The victory was Orlando’s first this season when trailing after two periods.
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