ORLANDO, Fla. – The Florida Everblades earned their 40th win of the season taking down the Orlando Solar Bears 4-1 Wednesday night at the Kia Center.
Both sides traded goals in the opening frame with Orlando’s Tyler Bird breaking the ice 7:04 into the contest. Connor Ungar was sharp in net for the Solar Bears as Florida came out firing delivering three of the first four shots of the night. The Solar Bears quickly seized momentum after some strong goaltending from Ungar early sending the next six shots of the first period towards Cam Johnson and ultimately the Orlando captain found the back of the net finishing off a feed from Aaron Luchuk inside the slot to give Orlando the early lead.
The Solar Bears lead did not survive long as Florida’s captain Oliver Chau responded 1:32 later to even the score off the rush started by a critical blocked shot from Craig Needham who sprung Chau on a partial break in and displayed a neat set of hands roofing a backhander to tie the game. There was no more scoring the rest of the frame despite both clubs trading power plays late in the period.
Special teams took over the game throughout the middle stanza including four skater advantages for Orlando, but Johnson and the Florida penalty kill stifled them all to keep Orlando off the board.
Tarun Fizer continued his excellence against Orlando potting his 18th of the season with 8:12 remaining in the second finishing off a breakaway chance five-hole. In net, Johnson was perfect throughout the middle frame turning away all eight Orlando shots while Ungar stopped four of five Florida shots.
The Blades had a chance early in the third period to stretch their lead but could not capitalize on an early power play. Florida continued the pressure early in the frame firing five of the first seven shots towards Ungar who denied them all to keep Orlando within. Moments later, Dyllan Gill nearly tied the game two apiece but rang his shot off the iron.
Jordan Sambrook extended Florida’s lead with 8:35 remaining in the third period firing a long range shot off a faceoff win outside the right circle to give the visitors a 3-1 lead.
Searching for a late push, Orlando pulled Ungar for the extra attacker with 3:36 left in the third period and Logan Lambdin cashed in on the empty net with to seal the deal for the Everblades with 2:08 left to increase Florida’s lead to 4-1.
Cam Johnson was sharp to close things out for Florida turning away all 10 Solar Bears shots in the third period and 29 of 30 to preserve the victory.
Blades Bites
Cam Johnson made his 40th start of the season marking the fourth time in his career making at least 40 starts.
Tarun Fizer has 11 points over his last five games against Orlando and leads Florida with seven goals in the matchup and 13 points.
Sambrook, Chau, and Needham all kept pace with one another each recording a point and lead all active Florida skaters with 39 points.
Florida finished the regular season a perfect 6-0-0 against the Orlando Solar Bears at the Kia Center and held Orlando to one goal or fewer for the fifth straight meeting.
The Everblades were outshot for just the 11th time this season and improved their record to 7-1-2-1 when outshot.
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