Game Recap: Solar Bears Clip Wings in 6-2 Win

January 12, 2016

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Orlando Solar Bears (16-14-2-3), proud affiliate of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and AHL’s Toronto Marlies, extended their win streak to four games and earned their sixth victory in their last seven games as they defeated the Kalamazoo Wings (14-19-2-1) by a 6-2 score in front of 873 on Tuesday night at the Wings Event Center.

The Solar Bears opened the scoring in the first period when Brady Vail stole the puck behind the Kalamazoo net and fed it into the slot for Erik Bradford, who hammered a shot past Clay Witt at 7:42.

The Wings tied the score at 7:07 of the second when David Gilbert fired a sharp-angle shot that eluded Rob Madore.

Orlando quickly answered on the subsequent shift when T.J. Foster broke in with Eric Faille on a 2-on-1 situation and dished the puck to his linemate, who snapped it past Witt at 7:29.

Faille and Foster then teamed up with Rylan Schwartz on a tic-tac-toe play minutes later that ended up with Foster finishing the play by depositing the puck into the back of the net at 10:37.

Dane Fox would pull Kalamazoo back to within one at 16:01 during a goal-mouth scramble, but knocked the puck over Madore as the goaltender lunged to make a second stop.

Foster buried his second of the night to restore the two-goal lead for Orlando at 18:15 off a pass from Johnny McInnis for his third point of the night; Schwartz got credit for the secondary assist, giving him three helpers on the night.

The offense continued to click for the Solar Bears in the third period, as Nicklas Lindberg scored just 1:20 into the frame off an assist from Vail for his first of the season.

Faille redirected a pass from Lindberg into the Kalamazoo net at 10:35 to cap the scoring for Orlando.

Madore earned the win with 29 saves on 31 shots against; Witt took the loss with 29 stops on 35 shots against.