ORLANDO, FLA – When Brady Vail was assigned to the Orlando Solar Bears by the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, no one was quite sure how the Palm City, Florida native would fit into the Solar Bears’ plans. These days, no one can imagine him not in the lineup, especially with the way he scores on the penalty kill.
Thursday night, Vail scored two third period goals, including his second short-handed tally in as many games, to propel Orlando to a 4-3 victory over the Florida Everblades at the Amway Center. With the win, the Solar Bears evened up their best-of-seven divisional semifinal series at two victories each, setting up a best-of-three mini series to decide who moves on in the quest for the ECHL’s Kelly Cup.
“The way I look at the penalty kill is that they have an extra guy [on the ice] so they’re a little bit nonchalant. It’s just the way it is,” Vail said. “You don’t play as hard when you have an extra guy so if you can bear down and get the puck out of your zone that’s when they start cheating for offense. That’s when you get the chances to score short-handed.”
The 2012 draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens (4th round, 94 overall) has had a knack for short-handed scoring. He led the Solar Bears with three shorties during the regular season and picked right back up in the playoffs.
Thursday’s lamp lighter was a collaborative effort as Ben Johnson, who played three seasons with Vail for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, turned a Florida mishandle into a pass to a wide open Vail in the slot. Vail wasted little time in firing the puck past Everblades goalie Allen York to break a 2-2 tie 1:17 into the final frame.
A little over seven minutes later, “Captain Short Hand” followed his instincts and used his speed to run down the rebound of his own shot. Despite being at a tough angle to the net, Vail found the room to beat York again, sending the majority of the announced crowd of 5,364 fans into a deafening roar that could be heard all the way to Estero.
Brady Vail scored twice in Orlando’s win Thursday night (File photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing / Orlando Solar Bears)
“I don’t know what got into him in the third period. He was flying,” Orlando head coach Vince Williams said about Vail. “Sometimes when they’re going [like that] you just have to let them go. He’s come a long way and to see him get rewarded like that was positive, a real good thing.”
The seventh straight meeting between the two in-state rivals dating back to the end of the regular season had all the makings of a war. The first period had plenty of snarl to it with big hits, mean slashes and post-whistle scrums as both sides had intimidation on their minds.
Orlando’s power play, which had been 0-for-10 in the series coming into the contest, struck the first blow. Despite being without leading scorer Jake Cepis (upper body injury), Williams found the right combination as Marshall Everson redirected a Bryce Aneloski shot from the point past York 4:03 into the stanza.
Florida kept its composure and found a way to tie the score late in the frame. It came when a flurry around Solar Bears netminder Garret Sparks saw a loose puck drop in the crease behind the goalie. Aneloski tried to clear the disc but it ended up on the stick of Everblades defenseman Mike Little who zipped it into the wide open net.
Things stayed even until the 8:07 point of the second when the Everblades silenced the loud home crowd. Mike Cornell, the focus of the fans’ ire, made the key play by sending a pinpoint pass across the slot to Nicolas Deschamps who was uncovered on the backside. Deschamps was able to bank the puck off Sparks’ pad into the net to give the visitors the lead.
York (29 saves) looked like he might be able to make Deschamps’ score stand up. Seconds after the goal, he robbed Johnny McInnis on a point blank chance. He also had some luck on his side when Johnson and Vail failed to connect on a two-on-none opportunity.
York’s luck ran out in the final minute of the period when Orlando’s Brett Findlay put on a show. The Toronto prospect followed up on his own missed shot, beating two Everblades to the carom off the end boards. He circled the net, arriving in the slot where he pulled the trigger on a quick wrist shot that found the back of the net thru heavy traffic.
“We made a few simple mistakes on their goals,” Florida head coach Greg Poss said. “Tonight the back breaker was the tying goal in the second period.”
Jesse Graham nullified one of Vail’s scores when he beat Sparks with a high and hard slap shot from the slot just past the midpoint of the final frame to trim the lead to 4-3. The Everblades had two power play chances in the final seven minutes of the game but Sparks, who followed Tuesday’s 48-save performance with 37 stops on Thursday, was not ready to fold. He stayed strong thru the final frantic minutes as Poss pulled York to create a two-man advantage. With pucks and bodies flying all around him, the Orlando netminder stayed cool and managed to hold the lead to set up a crucial game five on Saturday.
“We knew this was going to be a long series. It was a very tight game tonight,” Florida’s Poss said. “We’ll reload and regroup and get ready for Saturday.”
Photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing / Orlando Solar Bears
As for the Solar Bears, the difference between the two games in Estero and the first two at home was a 180-degree turn. Findlay said he believes Orlando now has the recipe to win the series figured out.
“We did a great job finishing our checks and playing between the whistles. We don’t really want to change too much come Saturday. We just need to keep up with this [type of] effort,” he said. “Guys are starting to believe in the room that we can do this (win the series). That’s a big thing in the sport of hockey for sure.”
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