Solar Bears’ home win streak broken by Norfolk

ORLANDO, FLA – Until the current season, the Orlando Solar Bears have never started a campaign by winning more than three games in a row at the Amway Center. Going into Sunday’s game against the Norfolk Admirals, the Solar Bears are playing 6-0-0-0 in a friendly in downtown O-Town.

And then it all fell apart.

The away admirs (8-6-0-1) scored two goals in each period while goalkeeper Dylan Wells saved 44 of 45 shots en route to a 6-1 win over the Solar Bears (9-6-1-0) in front of a crowd was announced as 3,516. Six different Norfolk players scored a goal in the competition with Cody Milan, Noah Corson and Blake Murray leading with one point and one assist. Two of the six talismans came in short hands while a third came in an Admiral power play.

Joe Garrefa scored Orlando’s only goal in the first half to equalize. It was Garreffa’s third goal in two games following his two-goal performance on Saturday.

The first penalty of the match brought a positive result for both sides. Norfolk’s Corson was called in for a stumbling at 2:02 of the opening bracket and within 16 seconds the Admirals had their first shorthand goal of the afternoon. Karl El-Mir went looking for the watch along the side panel and gave it to Anthony Gagnon. Gagnon crossed into the box to face Orlando’s Zach Emond to the right and hit a shot through Emond’s glove to score his third goal of the season.

Just over a minute later, thanks to his teammate’s advantage, Garreffa got Cole Moberg’s lane and entered the circle to Wells’ right. Using a huge screen from the Canon Pieper, Garreffa whistled past netminder Norfolk for his third win of two games and a 1-1 draw.

The Solar Bears got themselves into penalty trouble with just over six minutes of stanza left when Chad Duchesne and Kevin Lohan made overlapping offenses, giving the Admirals 1:40 time a five-for-three advantage. Forty-one ticks into a two-man advantage, a Daniel Brickley cross-kick hit an Orlando stick and diverted to Corson, who was standing alone atop Emond’s twist. He made a quick push, put in the net and scored his fifth goal of the season.

The second half opened with a bang when two minutes later Orlando’s Ian Parker and Norfolk’s Anthony Collins dropped their gloves and went on. The fight was the end of some roughness that started late in the first inning and culminated in scores getting out of hand in the third inning.

At 6:31, Norfolk’s Chase Lang goes to the trash can for a cross-check, putting the Solar Bears in the power game. The admirals once again worried little about the murder, turning the forecast into an offense as Corson forced a transfer and brought in Milan, who beat Emond in the third game of the season and 30 minutes into the second. for Norfolk in the game.

By the time Milan tally, the 3-1 lead was reminiscent of Saturday’s game when the Admirals led 3-1 in the third game before Orlando returned. The feeling disappeared at the end of the period when at 15:01 a frantic scramble in front of Emond culminated with a hit for Collins, who buried it in his first wide open goal. of the year and Norfolk 4-1. command.

Despite their best efforts, the Solar Bears still couldn’t find a way to defeat Wells. Not only did the admirals keep the ball well in their own net, but they added two more goals to themselves in the final twenty minutes. Murray got his second goal of the season when he went into the circle to the right of Emond and beat the keeper between his feet at 8:46 and Nick Schaus scored a power play at 14:36 ​​to close the goal. win.

The two teams will wrap up their game set on Monday night at 7pm at the Amway Center. After Monday, the teams will have two more regular-season meetings for the rest of the season on the first weekend of April in Orlando.

Notes: Final shots were in favor of Orlando from 45 to 28… The Admirals won 2-4 in a power play while the Solar Bears were 1v5 with a man advantage… Orlando is now 2- 2-1-0 against Norfolk so far this season… The 45 shots in the game and the 21 shots in Orlando’s first period are all season highs.

Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com

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