ESTERO, FLA – Saturday night at Hertz Arena, the Orlando Solar Bears were facing a dilemma. After scoring four goals against the Florida Everblades on Friday at home, they were down by a goal heading to the third period against the goalie who almost completely shut them down on Thursday. Could they find a way to score and win or would they be frustrated for the second time in three nights?
The answer ended up being simple: yes they could.
Luke Boka’s second first minute goal in the final twenty minutes in as many nights was the catalyst for a three-goal outburst to lead Orlando (22-16-3-0) to a 3-2 win over the host Everblades (23-15-3-3) in front of an announced crowd of 6,940. Tye Felhaber and Tyler Bird joined Boka in the scoring column in the third with Bird’s breakaway tally ended up being the deciding score.
Orlando netminder Brad Barone made 28 saves to pick up his 15th victory of the season. Barone, who was making his sixth straight start, went 2-1-1 in four starts during the week, posting a 2.49 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.
After a fairly non-descript and scoreless first period, the flow of the game started to bog down with penalties in the second. There was just one goal scored in the middle frame and it came from the home team. It started with a logjam at the Orlando defensive blueline where Florida’s Dylan Vander Esch did a good job of keeping the puck in. Vander Esch managed to poke the puck to Alex Aleardi and in the process set up a two-on-one scoring chance with Levko Koper. Aleardi drew the defender over to him and at the last moment slid a pass to Koper who drilled a shot past Baronefor his ninth goal of the season.
With twenty minutes remaining and Everblades netminder Parker Gahagen getting stronger as he went along, the Solar Bears needed a spark.Boka stepped up on his first shift of the third period with some forechecking behind the Florida net. Boka’s work allowed Fabrizio Ricci to get in on the puck and make a steal. Ricci sent the disc out to Luke McInnis at the point. Boka went to the front of the net and was there in time to redirect McInnis’ shot past Gahagen for his team-leading 12th goal of the season to even the score at 1-1 just 34 seconds into the final frame.
Within the next 34 seconds of play, both teams were called for a minor penalty, setting up a four-on-four sequence that the Solar Bears capitalized on. A turnover at the center ice line by the Everblades became a three-on-one rush for Orlando with Felhaber carrying the puck into the Florida defensive zone. Seeing lots of room between himself and the cage, Felhaber closed in as far as the faceoff dot before lasering a shot low to Gahagen’s glove side for his second tally in as many nights and a 2-1 lead for the visitors.
A double minor on Bird at the 6:07 mark – which overlapped with a call on Florida’s Nathan Perkovich for yet another minute of four-on-four play – provided the Everblades with a chance to pull even but Barone and his teammates killed off the penalty with ease.
The Solar Bears picked up what they thought was insurance with 4:30 remaining in regulation. Jake Transit stepped into a passing lane in the neutral zone and intercepted an Everblades attempted feed. He then fed Bird at the Florida blueline for a clean break-in and Bird beat Gahagen to the glove side for his 10th goal of the season.
Gahagen, who made 28 saves in the contest, was pulled for an extra attacker with 2:15 remaining in the game. The Everblades unloaded a flurry of shots, eventually getting a goal from Joe Pendenza on a slap shot from the top of the circle to Barone’s left. The drive hit someone or something in front and went up and over the Orlando netminder, giving Pendenza his 18th of the year with 21 ticks to go.
The Solar Bears were able to kill off the remaining time, earning their third win in four tries at Hertz Arena this season.
Orlando is off until Wednesday when it travels to Jacksonville for a midweek matchup with the Icemen at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena at 7 p.m. Florida is off until Saturday, February 12th when the Everblades return to Orlando for the first of a two-game set at the Amway Arena.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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