The Orlando Solar Bears were mere seconds away from overtime, a relief for a team so desperate for a win and beginning to pick up energy. It is those last moments though that energy and focus need to be at their highest.
It is that lesson the Orlando Solar Bears had to learn painfully again against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Thursday.
Jordan Knackstedt worked his way through the defense into the slot and beat Rob Madore with 3.3 seconds left to complete a three-goal third period and a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over the Solar Bears at Amway Center, stealing away at least one precious point for the Solar Bears.
“It’s a little bit of a surreal thing when something like that happens,” coach Anthony Noreen said. “You feel like you’ve got everything going, you’re OK, you’ve calmed the mood on the bench after they fight back to make it 5-5. I thought we were pretty even keeled on the bench. You give one up late like that in a game you knew you needed pretty badly, I think it’s human nature to feel down about it. It’s human nature, you want to win the hockey game.”
Orlando certainly needs every point it can get as the team has struggled since its Midwestern road trip two weeks ago. The Solar Bears have had difficult defending home ice and difficulty against teams in the playoff picture like the Swamp Rabbits.
The good news is Orlando played the style it was hoping to play throughout the second and third periods, moving the puck and getting sustained possession and multiple chances at goal in the attacking zone. The Solar Bears had the upper hand and scored four goals in the second period to take a 5-3 lead into the third period.
The energy and attention to detail were as high as they had ever been. Especially coming off a slow first period where the Solar Bears gave up a goal 80 seconds into the game and looked flat-footed and unable to break through the zone.
The only goal came on a shorthanded chance from Rylan Schwartz on a turnover at the blue line that turned into a 2-on-1 with Schwartz and the team’s second-leading assister, Eric Faille.
That may have created energy, but it was nothing like the energy and attention created in the first five seconds of the second period.
Off the opening faceoff, Zach Bell and Kodie Curran dropped gloves and fought with Bell getting the final lick before officials separated the two. From there, Orlando was supercharged, taking the lead within 6:30 of the second period with two goals in 57 seconds from Faille and Matt Rupert.
“That’s something I’ve done throughout my career,” Bell said of his second period fight. “I noticed we came out kind of flat in the first, I kind of wanted to give the guys a buzz. It worked out. Unfortunately we got a bad bounce on the last shift of the game. But we’ve got to cut out the one or two shifts that we take off and seal down the two points.”
Coach Anthony Noreen credited the defensive pairing of Bell and Louis along with the forward line of Erik Bradford, Johnny McInnis and Matt Rupert for getting the team going. Bradford scored a goal late in the second period and was followed less than a minute later by Lindberg on a similar pass from behind the net to the slot for a goal.
The puck movement was that crisp to create golden opportunities. Greenville’s defense was completely torn apart in a way the Solar Bears have rarely consistently done this year.
The intensity did not wane in the third period either. The bounces may have. Or, if not the bounces, than the constant intensity and positioning did.
Greenville struck quickly to tie the game with two goals in less than two minutes in the third peirod. Charlie Dodero had his first goal of the year on an uncontested shot from the blue line on the power play and Scott Fleming tied it up early in the third after Currant beat the Solar Bears defender to the puck and fed Fleming coming down the ice.
Those odd-man rushes and 50/50 pucks were the plays Orlando was constantly winning throughout the second period and lost in those key moments.
The third period though largely saw Orlando on the front foot. Until that last play.
“The finishes . . . it just can’t happen,” Noreen said. “There are a couple seconds left, and we’ve got a puck on our stick in the corner. We’ve got to eat the puck. You can’t let that happen.”
Like Bell said, the one or two shifts Orlando takes off are the ones that seem to kill the team every time. And there are still too many of them for this young team.
The offense helped buoy everything and provide energy. It was the kind of overall performance the Solar Bears needed to build confidence in the system and rediscover their footing.
Bell said it was important for the offense to know they had players backing them up at all times. The fights were symbols of that as the physicality decreased with the referees watching things closer and the defensemen willing to mix things up to bring energy and effort.
It still has to be a 60-minute effort though — a common theme from Noreen throughout the season. A task the Solar Bears are still trying to perfect.
“That one stung,” Bell said. “We weren’t happy about that. Especially tow ork for something. All year we’ve said we need to play a complete 60 minutes. For us to battle back there and that bounce at the end, it’s kind of the way things are going right now. We’ve got to keep it simple and keep working hard.”
