DULUTH, GA – For the second time in a little over two weeks, the Orlando Solar Bears had a chance to extend a winning streak past two games when they took on the Atlanta Gladiators on Sunday afternoon at the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth. And thanks to a couple of old friends and a hot goalie, the Solar Bears failed to come up with that third straight victory.
Former Solar Bear Brady Vail scored twice in the third period and Alex Gacek netted one of his own as the Gladiators (11-8-1-1, 24 points) came up with a 4-1 victory over the Solar Bears (8-10-3-0, 19 points) in front of an announced crowd of 1,757. Atlanta netminder Dan Vladar backstopped the win by making 50 saves in the contest.
Looking to avoid a fourth consecutive loss to their South division rivals, Orlando’s lineup looked much different than it did in the weekend’s prior games. Both Sean Zimmerman and Darryl Bootland, each having played on Friday and Saturday after returning from off-season surgery, were given the day off as a precautionary measure. With forward Josh Winquist having been banged up on Friday in Greenville and unavailable, Solar Bears head coach Drake Berehowsky used defenseman Jeff King as the team’s tenth forward replacing Bootland in the contest while blueliner Aleksandr Mikulovich, who had not seen action since November 19th, was inserted to replace Zimmerman.
Less than three minutes into the first period, tempers rose greatly when Mikulovich slammed Gacek into the boards. The hit, which left Gacek dazed, drew Luke Sandler to challenge Mikulovich and the two duked it out. The initial hit earned Mikulovich a five minute major for boarding but luckily for the rookie defenseman it did not end his day.
With Sandler drawing an instigator minor, the teams were playing four-on-four when Atlanta’s Cody Carlson was tagged for holding, givingthe Solar Bears a short four-on-three power play. As time in the advantage was winding down, Max Novak sent a pass to the middle of the blue line where Nolan Valleau was waiting. Valleau drifted in to the high slot and laced a wrist shot past Vladar for his seventh goal of the season and a 1-0 Solar Bears lead.
It turnedout to be the lone score of the frame as Vladar and Orlando netminder Mackenzie Skapski were strong between the pipes. Skapski, who was coming off an impressive win on Friday, faced 15 Gladiators shots and turned every one of them away. At the other end, Vladar recovered from the Valleau tally to make 11 saves to keep his team in the contest.
The Solar Bears were handed a great opportunity to extend their lead to two early in the second period when Alexandre Carrier, another former Solar Bear, went to the penalty box 15 seconds into the frame. Instead of Orlando taking advantage, it was Atlanta’s Darby Llewellyn who capitalized on a miscue to even the score. Just eleven ticks after the penalty, the Solar Bears sent the puck back to the point where Kristian Pospisil was manning the blue line. He momentarily fumbled the pass, allowing Llewellyn to swoop in and steak the disc and speed down the ice. Driving into the Orlando defensive zone, Llewellyn went straight to the net where he put a backhander over Skapski’s leg pad for his third of the season.
The rest of the middle frame was a repeat of the opening stanza as the goalies took center stage. Vladar was rock solid, making 15 saves including a big one on J.C. Campagna to keep Orlando off the board while Skapski settled in to stop eight of the nine Gladiators attempts on net to send the game to the final period tied at one.
Late in the second, Atlanta’s Phil Lane was called for holding at 19:44, meaning that Orlando would start the third stanza on a power play. Twenty-six ticks into the final frame, the Solar Bears Chris LeBlanc was called for hooking to even things up at four-on-four. The open space created was enough to allow Josh Atkinson enough room to skate down the near wing and drop a pass back to Vail at the top of the face-off circle to Skapski’s right. Vail took one stride and nailed a shot that screamed into the back of the net off the crossbar for his sixth goal of the season and his second since being traded to the Gladiators by Norfolk.
When Lane’s infraction expired, it left the Solar Bears short handed and vulnerable. A failed clearing attempt proved to be Orlando’s undoing as Sandler stopped it and fired the puck on net. Skapski made the save but the rebound skidded to the goalie’s right where Gacek buried it for a power play tally and his eighth of the year.
Down by two with almost eighteen minutes left in regulation, the Solar Bears turned up the heat. They began firing shot after shot on Vladar but the Boston Bruins prospect was on his game, making save after save to frustrate the visitors. He seemed to get better and better as the shot count ballooned to 24 with none of them finding the back of the net.
Berehowsky pulled Skapski (34 saves) with just over two minutes left to augment a power play advantage created by a penalty to Vail. The Solar Bears had no luck beating Vladar and when Vail put the puck in the empty net with 16.2 seconds left for his second of the game, the Gladiators were assured of yet another win over their opponents from Florida.
Notes: Final shots in the game were 51 for Orlando and 38 for Atlanta. The 51 shots by the Solar Bears were a season high… The Solar Bears went 1-for-8 on the power play while the Gladiators finished the game 1-for-5 with the man advantage… Orlando’s Martins Dzierkals had the secondary assist on Valleau’s first period goal, extending his consecutive games with a point streak to three games (2 goals, 2 assists)… The Solar Bears continue their season-high ten game road trip Tuesday night with the first of two games in Cincinnati against the Cyclones at US Bank Arena. Game time is set for 7:35 p.m.
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.