NORFOLK, VA – With less than ten games left in the regular season, the Orlando Solar Bears find themselves in a nearly must-win situation every night. Trailing eighth place Elmira by two points means each point in the standings can be the difference between a playoff spot and an early tee time.
Friday night, the Solar Bears (31-24-4-5, 71 points) had to dig deep to earn a valuable point in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Norfolk Admirals (28-32-4-1, 61 points) at The Scope in Norfolk. Orlando now sits three points behind Elmira for the last playoff spot in the ECHL’s Eastern conference.
Danick Gauthier scored the game-winning goal with 1:30 left in the extra period, beating Solar Bears goalie Rob Madore with his 13th tally of the season. The goal spoiled what would have been a great story of persistence as Orlando needed two third period goals to send the game to overtime.
Solar Bears head coach Anthony Noreen has been pushing his team to continue to get out to solid starts in games. Friday, however, was probably a game that he wished the team could have back.
Norfolk wasted very little time in showing it was not going to go quietly. Just 39 seconds into the opening frame, Steven Whitney picked up the rebound of a failed wraparound attempt by Robbie Czarnik and a shot by Alexis Loiseau and put it past Madore for his 20th goal of the season. Seconds later – 21 to be exact – the Admirals’ Braden Christoffer went coast-to-coast before finding the back if the net for his 10th of the year and a 2-0 Norfolk lead one minute in.
Having to fight back from behind, Orlando needed its power play to kick in and it did. Midway through the period, the Solar Bears took advantage of a man up situation when Denver Manderson’s shot was stopped by Norfolk goalie Nic Riopel but Rylan Schwartz was there to bury the rebound for his 20th of the year.
Not to be outdone, the Admirals proved they too had a potent power play three minutes later. It came when Czarnik and Loiseau set up Whitney for a rocket that beat Madore’s blocker for his second of the period.
Norfolk carried a 3-1 lead into the second period thanks to Riopel, who was rock solid when the Admirals defense allowed shots to get through. Down at his end, Madore had settled down after the rocky start to shut down Norfolk’s offense. Neither netminder allowed anything past them in the middle stanza, sending the game to the final period with the host Admirals still up by two.
Madore, who finished the game with 33 saves, kept the Solar Bears within striking distance when he thwarted a Norfolk two-on-none opportunity early in the third. It turned out to be a huge play.
Spurred on by Madore’s effort, Orlando’s offense came to life, pounding shots on Riopel (30 saves) only to be denied. The Solar Bears finally pulled within one at the 11:33 mark when defenseman Eric Baier held the offensive blue line and fed the puck to Johnny McInnis who fired through a screen to score his 18th.
Sixty-two seconds later, Orlando headed to its fifth power play of the game. With Jack Rodewald providing a screen, Baier put everything he had into a drive that eluded Riopel for Baier’s 10th goal of the season and the game-tying score.
Neither team was able to find the winning tally in the final 7:10 of regulation, sending the contest into overtime. Orlando had the better of the early chances but failed to score, leaving the door open for Gauthier to be the hero.
Orlando and Norfolk will finish their season series Saturday night with a 7:15 pm puck drop at The Scope.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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