GREENVILLE, SC – Through two periods of play at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Sunday afternoon, the Orlando Solar Bears found themselves down by three goals to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits and facing a tenth consecutive game without a win. Things looked bleak but during the intermission, something happened.
Whatever it was that was said or done between periods, it fueled a furious comeback that could become a defining moment for the 2017-18 Solar Bears.
Orlando (3-8-2-0, 8 points) scored four unanswered goals during the third period, capped by Josh Winquist’s power play tally with 1:32 left in regulation, to come from behind and defeat the host Swamp Rabbits (9-4-1-0, 19 points) 7-6 in front on an announced crowd of 2,969. Winquist, who also added three assists, was one of three Solar Bears – Nolan Valleau (2 goals, 2 assists) and Max Novak (1 goal, 3 assists) the others – to post four point games as Orlando won for the first time since October 22nd.
Orlando’s special teams, which have been alternately hot and cold so far this season, came up huge the the team really needed it. The power play units cashed in four times – a new ECHL franchise record for a single game – while the penalty killers chipped in with the Solar Bears first goal of the contest.
Playing the third game in three days including a quick day trip to North Charleston to play South Carolina on Saturday, the Swamp Rabbits turned an early push by Orlando into yet another lead. After surviving a penalty kill, Greenville got on the board first when at the 4:20 mark, Branden Troock found an open spot in front of Orlando goalie Mackenzie Skapski where he took a pass from Sean Flanagan and rifled a shot home for his eighth goal of the season.
Just one minute and twebty-seven seconds later, Dawson Leedahl caromed a drive off a Solar Bears defender and into the back of the net for his sixth of the year and it looked like Greenville was taking control just as it had on Friday night.
With the Swamp Rabbits on a power play eight minutes into the opening frame, Orlando needed a jolt of confidence and got it from Novak. Chasing down a loose puck in the neutral zone, Novak sped away on a breakaway and beat Swmp Rabbits netminder Ty Rimmer between the legs for his fourth goal of the year and the team’s second short-handed score.
Troock, who has been a thorn in the Solar Bears side in the teams’ early meetings, got that one back at the 8:58 mark. Charging in on an odd man rush, Troock took a feed from former Solar Bear Joe Basaraba and zipped it past Skapski’s glove side to give the Swamp Rabbits a 3-1 lead that they held into the first intermission.
A carry-over penalty to Orlando’s Martins Dzierkals fromlate in the opening frame allowed Greenville to start the middle frame on a man advantage the the Swamp Rabbits made the visitors pay. It took just 22 seconds for Caleb Herbert to light the goal light for the tenth time this year. It also gave Herbert a fifteenth consecutive game with at least a point, setting a new franchise record by breaking Brendan Connolly’s mark of 14 set during the 2011-12 season.
Down by three, the Solar Bears needed a spark and it was the power play that provided it. At the 1:42 mark of the stanza, Winquist set up Valleau for a rocket that beat Rimmer through a screen. For Valleau, it was his third man advantage score of the season and fifth overall.
The score remained 4-2 in favor of Greenville until Basaraba put a shot on net that Skapski got his glove on but saw it trickle out and over the goal line. The score, Basaraba’s fourth of the season, ended the afternoon for the former Swamp Rabbits netminder after less than half a game had been played as Cal Heeter came on in relief.
Back to back power plays gave Orlando a breath of life and the effort turned into a goal at the 13:18 mark. Logan Nelson made the key pass, setting up the rookie Dzierkals for a hard, quick wrist shot that beat Rimmer cleanly for the Solar Bears second man advantage tally of the day and his first professional goal.
Late in the period, Greenville looked  like it had put the final dagger in the backs of the Solar Bears when Alan McPherson converted another odd-man rush into a score off a feed from Leedahl. For McPherson, it was his eighth of the season.
Greenville opened the final frame the same way it did the second as Dzierkals took his second late-period penalty. The Solar Bears killed off the remaining time and seconds after getting back to full strength went on a power play themselves. A little over a minute into the advantage, Winquist again teed up the puck for Valleau who slammed it home for his second of the game and sixth of the season.
Valleau’s tally jolted the Orlando bench to life and just twenty-five seconds later, newcomer J.C. Campagna, playing in his first game with the Solar Bears, set up Jean Dupuy for his second goal of the year to cut the Greenville lead to 6-5.
Dupuy nearly evened the score on a subsequent advantage butas his luck has been for most of the young season, he heard the sickening sound of the puck hitting the post. Undeterred, the Solar Bears pressed on and eventually did tie things up on the same power play when J.J. Piccinich banged home the rebound of a shot by Valleau at the 8:09 mark. The goal was Piccinich’s third of the season and Orlando’s third man advantage score of the game.
Heeter (15 saves) and Rimmer (38 saves) dug their heels in, holding the score even at six for much of the rest of regulation. Then with 2:34 left before a potential overtime, Greenville’s Brenden Kotyk was hit with a boarding penalty when he slammed Campagna into the boards. It proved to be a pivotal call as a little past the midpoint of the advantage when after some hard work along the boards, Novak got the puck to Valleau in the high slot. Valleau quickly slid a perfect pass to Winquist who nailed a one-time shot from the face-off circle to Rimmer’s left into the net for what proved to be the game winner.
The Swamp Rabbits pushed hard to even the score one more time but on this day, the hockey gods were finally with the Solar Bears as they held on for the win.
Notes: Orlando outshot Greenville 45-32 in the contest. It was the second straight game and sixth overall with 40 or more shots for the Solar Bears… Orlando’s power play went 4-for-7 in the game while Greenville finished 1-for-5… Troock was just one of six Swamp Rabbits to put up multiple points in the contest… A scoring change from Friday’s game credited Winquist with an assist on Valleau’s goal. With that point and his four from Sunday, he now has a six-game point streak going (3 goals, 9 assists)… Prior to the game, Orlando activated Campagna after putting forward Chris Crane on reserve and forward Zach Stepan on injured reserve retroactive to November 13th… The Solar Bears will be back home at the Amway Center Tuesday night to host the expansion Jacksonville Icemen for the first time. The two teams will then head up to Jacksonville for a return match on Wednesday night.
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