GLENS FALLS, NY – On Tuesday night at the Glens Falls Civic Center, the Orlando Solar Bears had an opportunity to further solidify their playoff standing as well as get some revenge if they could beat the host Adirondack Thunder. For twenty minutes, it looked like a victory was in the cards; unfortunately the final forty was one bad hand being dealt after another.
Led by two goals from Conor Riley and three points from J.C. Campagna, Adirondack (36-20-7-4, 83 points) locked up a spot in the Kelly Cup playoffs with a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Solar Bears (34-24-6-3, 77 points) in front of an announced crowd of 1,996. Orlando, which got a goal and an assist each from Eric Faille and Mason Marchment, fell back into third place in the South division after Greenville defeated South Carolina in overtime to break a tie for second while the Stingrays moved within a point of the Solar Bears in fourth.
Coming off a three-game sweep of Brampton and channeling the need for revenge after a loss to the same Thunder team a week ago, Orlando played the first period with energy and despite being outshot 15-8 came away with a two goal lead.
The game’s opening goal came 9:45 into the frame on a sequence that started with some aggressive forechecking by Faille. After separating the Thunder from the puck, he got it to Chase Witala who was down near the goal line in the Adirondack defensive end. Witala saw Faille head to the front of the net and fired the puck toward the net where Faille was able to get a piece of it and send it into the net past goalie J.P. Anderson. For the big forward, who was playing in his 200th professional game, it was his 25th tally of the season.
While Solar Bears netminder Ryan Massa was fending off the offensive advances of the Thunder, his teammates were looking for a way to increase the lead. The opportunity came late in the period when Tony Cameranesi slipped a pass to Shane Conacher in the slot. Conacher one-touched the puck to the back side of the play where Justin Buzzeo fired it into the open net for his 19th goal of the season and his second with Orlando.
Orlando carried a lot of momentum into the first intermission but all of the good vibes seemed to leave as the team took the ice for the second period. Adirondack came out with a renewed spirit and gained control of the contest by the time the stanza hit the 13:30 mark.
The Thunder got themselves on the scoreboard 2:48 into the frame thanks in part to a failed defensive zone clear by the Solar Bears. Cullen Bradshaw carried the stolen disc down the boards to the goal line where he put a pass on the stick of Riley who beat Massa for his eighth goal of the season.
Things took a decidedly bad turn for the visitors at the 6:18 mark when defenseman Taylor Doherty tangled with Austin Orszulak behind the play and was given a five-minute major penalty for spearing and a game misconduct. Fifty-three seconds into the extended man advantage, the Thunder evened the score when Cameron Brown cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Ryan Culkin for his first professional tally.
Orlando hurt itself again when Brenden Miller was called for elbowing at 8:45, giving Adirondack a five-on-three power play and the hosts took full advantage. It took less than a minute for the Thunder to take the lead when Patch Alber set up Kevin Lough for a blast from the top of the left circle through traffic for his fourth of the season to give his team a lead they would not give up.
Adirondack finished the full four-goal swing four minutes later when Lough found Riley in the slot and the converted forward fired a wrist shot past Massa for his second of the period and ninth of the season.
Down but certainly not out, the Solar Bears attempted to mount a rally in the third. It began at the 2:12 mark when Marchment was in the right place to convert the rebound of a deflection by Chris Crane for his ninth of the year to make it 4-3.
The Thunder answered back a little over six minutes later when on yet another power play, Culkin fired a cross-ice pass to Campagna who nailed a one-time bomb from the right side circle. For Campagna, it was his fourth goal of the 2016-17 season and his third point of the contest.
Milos Bubela pulled the Solar Bears back with one at the 14:08 mark when he followed up on the rebound of a shot by Marchment to notch his eighth goal of the season and seventh with Orlando. Unfortunately for the visitors, they were not able to find the equalizer as Anderson and the Thunder held on for the win and a ticket to the post-season.
The Solar Bears will head to North Charleston, South Carolina on Friday for a pair of games against the hard-charging Stingrays. Game time Friday night is set for 7:05 p.m. while Sunday’s contest will start at 3:05 p.m.
Notes: Anderson picked up the victory in net for Adirondack, making 20 saves while Massa stopped 32 shots in suffering the loss…Orlando went 0-for-3 on the power play while Adirondack finished 3-for-4 with the man advantage… Bubela has three goals and an assist in his last two games… Orlando’s Joe Perry recorded two shots on net in the contest, tying him with Ryan Cruthers for the ECHL franchise record for shots on net in a season (199). Cruthers set the mark during the 2012-13 “Out Of Hibernation”season for the Solar Bears… Cameranesi ran his point streak to three games (2 goals, 2 assists) while Faille extended his point streak to four games (4 goals, 3 assists).
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.