ORLANDO, FLA – With less than ten games remaining in the regular season, this is the time that playoff-bound teams want to be rounding into shape. Line combinations, defensive pairings, special teams sets all need to be ready to go once the post-season begins.
The thought process also applies to the men between the pipes – the goaltenders. And right now, the Orlando Solar Bears are watching to see if Clint Windsor is ready for a deep run toward a Kelly Cup title.
Windsor let everyone know that he is set for the coming challenge by making 43 saves to lead the Orlando Solar Bears (33-25-5-1) to a 3-1 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays (28-23-10-3) in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 2,622 at the Amway Center Sunday afternoon. Tristin Langan, Michael Joly and Tyler Bird provided the offense with a goal apiece but it was Windsor who was the star in the contest.
The victory allowed the Solar Bears to increase their lead for the fourth and final Eastern conference playoff spot to .024 over the Stingrays in fifth and .032 over sixth-place Jacksonville.
As for Windsor, he is rocketing up the charts of all-time ECHL Solar Bears netminders. Sunday’s win was his 21st of the season, putting him one away from tying Ryan Massa for most wins in a single season (22, 2015-16 season) and 40th career victory with Orlando (Massa currently sits at 41). This year, Windsor is at the top in the ECHL in minutes played (2,221) and saves (1,180) and near the pinnacle with his 21 wins (Florida’s Jake Hildebrand leads with 22).
Sunday’s contest with South Carolina started off with a bang for the Solar Bears. Just 46 seconds into the opening period, Orlando was pressing hard in the Stingrays end. The puck was worked by Aaron Luchuk to the top of the crease where Langan went on the hunt. When South Carolina goalie Jake Kupsky failed to cover up, Langan was able to bang it home for his 24th goal of the season.
Late in the frame, the margin became two goals. Seconds after killing off a penalty, Orlando went on a charge to the other end. The rush morphed into an extended period of pressure that led to Joly connecting for his 16th of the season (8th with the Solar Bears). Joly actually started the sequence with a pass back to Mark Auk at the point. Auk fired away but it hit a body in front, caroming to Chris LeBlanc in the right faceoff circle. LeBlanc made a backhand drop pass to Joly who was circling toward the slot. Joly deftly avoided two Stingrays and laced a shot through traffic into the back of the cage to make it 2-0 Orlando.
The second period went by without any scoring but it did show a change in the momentum. The opening frame had ended with the Solar Bears outshooting the Stingrays by a whopping 25-12 count. Things went in the opposite direction during the middle frame, however, as South Carolina became more aggressive and it showed with the visitors posting a 19-9 advantage on the shot clock. Windsor was called on to make numerous saves that kept his team ahead and the Stingrays off the board.
At the buzzer to end the second, the Stingrays were tagged for a penalty that began counting down at the start of the third. It became an important event because South Carolina used the penalty kill to score. The Solar Bears were trying to move the puck at the point when the biscuit got hot and wandered away. Dylan Steman was quick to pounce, gaining control and steaming out on a breakaway. Steman headed straight for the Orlando net and buried a shot past Windsor’s stick side for his 15th goal of the season to cut the deficit to 2-1 a minute into the final twenty.
Orlando found itself in a more defensive posture as time began to tick down as the Stingrays pressed for the tying score. A key point came at the 4:25 mark when Solar Bears forward Nikita Pavlychev was called for a double minor for high sticking. Faced with needing a big time penalty kill, Orlando did so brilliantly, holding the visitors to a mere two shots on Windsor during the stretch.
As hard as South Carolina tried, they were not able to find a way to beat Windsor. The Stingrays outshot Orlando 13-5 in the third, the final shot coming when Tyler Bird hit the vacated Stingrays net with 8.5 seconds to go for his 14th of the year to seal the all-important victory.
Orlando is off until Wednesday when they head up to Jacksonville to battle the Icemen at 7 p.m. The Solar Bears will then return to the City Beautiful to prepare for a three-game weekend set with the first place Florida Everblades starting Friday at the Amway Center.
Notes: Final shots were 44-39 in favor of the Stingrays… South Carolina went 0-for-5 on the power play while Orlando went 0-for-2… With the win, Orlando improved to 8-5-0-0 against South Carolina with one more regular season meeting to go… Joly, LeBlanc, Jerry D’Amigo and Luchuk all extended personal point streaks to three games… Langan’s opening goal was the eighth of his career with the Solar Bears, giving him sole possession of the top spot in franchise history.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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