Everblades Fall in Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla – In another crucial matchup towards the South Division playoff race, the Florida Everblades and Orlando Solar Bears once again dropped the puck in Central Florida. Unfortunately for Florida, the Everblades fell in this important matchup 4-2 to their in-state rivals at the Kia Center, as the gap for those postseason spots shrinks.

It took nearly the full length of the first period to find any goals, but it was the Everblades that the deadlock. Sean Josling took a cross-ice feed from Oliver Chau and buried a power-play one-timer with just two seconds remaining in the opening frame to give Florida a 1-0 lead. The goal was Josling’s 17th marker of the season. Joe Pendenza also contributed a secondary assist. With little time to retaliate, the Blades took that 1-0 advantage to the locker room for the first intermission. 

The second period saw more fireworks, with the two sides combining for three goals. The first came off the stick of Tyler Bird from a goal-line feed that tied the game at one near the midway mark of the period. The Everblades would then briefly retake the advantage with an odd-man rush goal scored by Josling again. His second of the game came off a feed from Mark Senden and gave Florida a 2-1 lead. However, just minutes later, Bird would score again and knot the contest at two on a shorthanded breakaway with just over two minutes to play. After 40 minutes, the Blades and Bears were tied at two. 

In the third period, it was all Orlando as the Solar Bears potted two goals to take the win. Firstly, Alex Frye carried the puck from his own end of the ice along the boards, moved in towards Cam Johnson, and fired a wrister top-corner past the Everblades netminder for his 16th goal of the season. Less than a minute later, an errant pass in front of the Florida net was tapped into the back of the net by Tyler Bird. The right place, right time finish gave him the hat trick, and the Solar Bears the win. 

Johnson stopped 22 of the 24 shots the Solar Bears threw at him. Orlando goalie Evan Fitzpatrick denied Florida on 22 of its 24 shots. 

The Everblades will be back home this weekend, Mar. 29 and Mar. 30 to host the Jacksonville Icemen at Hertz Arena. 

Monday Night’s Scoresheet

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