The puck would not cooperate for two of the goals that snuck past Ryan Massa and would ultimately decide the game. With both goalies making incredible saves and withstanding their share of pressure throughout the game, a few lucky rolls and unfortunate bounces would decide the game.
With the way the season is going and the limited time remaining in the schedule, not to mention the end of a long home stand of 13 of 14 games at the Amway Center, every game and every point matters. These opportunities are going away.
Even if they are on odd bounces.
The Solar Bears gave up goals off a Solar Bears player skate and a players pad proving to be the difference in a 4-2 loss to the Kalamazoo Wings at Amway Center on Saturday.
“Their goal was just a dagger,” Rylan Schwartz said. “They don’t work for it, just a miscommunication on our side. We’re taking chances when they get that fourth one. Turnover in the neutral zone, a three on two and they took advantage of their opportunity.”
The Wings scored late in the first period on the power play when Tyler Shattock tried to feed a pass across ice from beneath the goal line to Eric Kattelus on the other side. The puck deflected off a defender’s skate and past Massa. If it had reached Kattelus it would have surely been a goal too.
That gave Kalamazoo another 2-0 first-period lead and forced Orlando to throw everything it had at the defense.
The backbreaker came just 86 seconds into the third period. Massa tried to poke the puck away as the rush came at him and feed it toward teammates trailing the play. But the puck bounced off a defender’s knee pad and snuck past Massa.
It took a moment even for the players to recognize a goal had been scored.
Orlando kept pushing to get back into the game and got back within one midway through the third period when Rylan Schwartz took a shot from a sharp angle. The puck got past goalie Joel Martin and rolled along the goal line. Schwartz circled around the net and poked it in from the other side.
The Solar Bears though could not find the equalizer. Their own bounce was not enough to overcome the goals conceded earlier and the Wings added one more at the end when they broke down the defense and forced Massa to leave his net on a couple of sprawling saves. Kattelus finished the game with a shot into an empty net.
“The points are so important for us, it’s tough to swallow those,” coach Anthony Noreen said. “As far as the game went, I thought we carried the play. I thought we had the better of the chances. A couple of bad break goals against us. If we play that way every night, we’re going to end up on the right side of games a lot of times.”
The Solar Bears outshot the Wings 41-30 in the game and kept the pressure on throughout.
The Solar Bears conceded the two goals in the first period on the power play after taking penalties. But once the game settled down it was clear Orlando was going to push the play and chase the lead. The team would have its opportunities.
The Solar Bears would strike for their first goal late in the second period on their own power play. They broke the defense down and had some nice passing from the circle down to the slot for Eric Faille to score his 21st goal and second of the weekend.
Other than that, it was difficult for the Solar Bears to crack Joel Martin. He recorded 39 saves and stymied Orlando at all turns.
“He was stepping up pretty far and cutting his angles off,” Schwartz said. “We weren’t doing a good job getting around him, besides our first goal on the power play. That one was just lucky to squeak by him. We definitely need to get to the net better and find ways to change angles on our shots.”
The Solar Bears though had the front foot and all the advantages in this one. They were the ones pushing the play forward and getting the better chances. After being a bit shaky and taken aback in the first period, it was a lot of offensive play from Orlando leading the way.
The Solar Bears played with a lot of the energy they were lacking in the weekend opener against the Wings on Friday night.
Orlando showed good bounce back, but like has been the problem all year one piece was missing. Tonight it was just getting past the hot goalie.
“I thought I saw the consistency tonight,” Noreen said. “From a process standpoint it was one of our stronger games of the season. I thought the puck possession was ours, the better looks were ours. The bounces, that stuff balances itself out. I just think we need to put the puck in the net. If we follow it up with a game on Monday and we get a win and then we follow it up and go into Brampton and do the same thing, then it’s starting to go in the right direction. Hopefully tonight is a step in the right direction.”
Whether the Solar Bears can build off the momentum even in a defeat and salvage a win Monday against the Wings again will be left for that day.
Orlando needs every point it can get to stay in the Playoff race, still trailing the eighth seed but well within striking distance. The team is five points back of the Elmira Jackals for that spot with four games in hand. Their destiny is still within their hands.
But they also have a lot of ground to make up and more than a few teams to surpass. Every game matters.
And the Solar Bears may look back at Saturday’s loss to the Wings as fortune not favoring them and an opportunity missed.
