Game Recap: Solar Bears Ring In New Year with 5-3 Victory Over Everblades

January 1, 2016

ESTERO, Fla. – The Orlando Solar Bears (11-13-2-3), proud affiliate of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and AHL’s Toronto Marlies, snapped their six-game winless streak with a 5-3 victory over the Florida Everblades (22-10-0-0) in front of 5,621 on Friday night at Germain Arena to earn their first win of the Wawa Sunshine Cup Series.

Ryan Martindale opened the scoring in the first period for the home town when he grabbed a rebound and buried a shot past a lunging Ryan Massa at 10:17.

Matt Rupert tied the score for the Solar Bears at 15:28 when he collected an Erik Bradford feed in the slot and snapped the puck above the glove of Anthony Peters. T.J. Foster’s secondary assist on Rupert’s goal extended his assist streak to four games.

Orlando then took its first lead of the night in the second period when Rylan Schwartz got his first goal of the season off pass from Jack Rodewald at 1:09.

Schwartz extended the lead for the Solar Bears when he deflected Myles Harvey’s shot from the right point underneath the blocker of Peters at 5:06.

The Everblades battled back early in the third period, as Mark Nemec tallied a power-play goal at 1:03, and Gabriel Desjardins scored an unassisted goal at 3:36 to tie the score at 3-3.

Orlando regained the lead on the man advantage when Max Nicastro blasted a one-timer from Eric Faille at 7:16.

Massa made several critical stops for Orlando late in the game, but the Solar Bears sealed the victory when Faille tapped the puck into an empty net at 19:13.

Massa made 22 saves on 25 shots against in the win; Peters took the loss with 22 stops on 26 shots against.