Solar Bears comeback falls short against Everblades

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Solar Bears (31-26-3-5), gave up an early lead and fell short in their comeback attempt against the Florida Everblades (43-21-0-2) in front of 6,144 on Wednesday night at the Amway Center in a Wawa Sunshine Cup Series Game.

The Solar Bears opened the scoring in the first period while on the man advantage as Denver Manderson sent a pass from the bottom of the left circle through the slot to T.J. Foster who wristed the shot past Anthony Peters at 3:25.

Florida answered midway through the stanza when Brendan O'Donnell capitalized on a defensive turnover near the edge of the Orlando blueline and made his way towards the net of Ryan Massa before lifting the puck over the goaltender's blocker at 11:36.

The Everblades took a 2-1 lead in the second frame during a Solar Bears power play as Gabriel Desjardins intercepted a pass and raced down the ice before depositing the puck past Massa at 5:07.

Peters prevented the Solar Bears from tying the score at 3:25 of the third period when he robbed Brady Vail on a shorthanded breakaway with a glove save.

Shortly afterwards, Florida extended its lead when Alexander Kuqali scooped up a loose puck in the slot following a 3-on-1 rush and fired it past a sprawled Massa at 4:38.

The Solar Bears closed the gap during their final power play of the game when Johnny McInnis sent a pass ahead for Eric Faille, who wristed a shot above the right shoulder of Peters at 15:42.

Although Orlando pulled Massa for an extra attacker late in the game, the Solar Bears couldn't solve Peters despite several quality scoring chances.

Massa took the loss with 19 saves on 22 shots against; Peters earned the victory with 32 stops on 34 shots against.

NOTES:
With the loss the Solar Bears (71 points) fall back to 10th place in the Eastern Conference. Although Orlando has the same number of points as Kalamazoo and an equal number of games remaining, Kalamazoo moves up to ninth place due to more regular season wins excluding victories in the shootout (31 to 28).
The Solar Bears are now 3-7-0-0 against Florida in the Wawa Sunshine Cup Series, with four games between the South Division rivals remaining.
Erik Bradford's point streak came to an end at 10 games (3g-7a). The streak began on Mar. 6 at Manchester and ended on Mar. 26 at Norfolk. It is the longest individual point streak by a Solar Bears rookie.

Orlando Solar Bears