ORLANDO, FL – Looking to rebound after being shut out on Thursday night, the South Carolina Stingrays scored twice in the first period and three more times in the third to blow by the Orlando Solar Bears, 5-1, on Friday evening at the Kia Center.
South Carolina (42-21-1-3) came out fast in game two, generating chances early, and broke through with less than eight minutes remaining in the first period. Anthony Rinaldi deflected a shot from the point past Orlando (26-37-4-1) netminder Connor Ungar giving the Stingrays a 1-0 lead.
28 seconds later, Stevie Leskovar forced a turnover in the neutral zone, skated into the attacking zone and wired home his second goal with South Carolina to double the Stingrays advantage with 6:55 left in the opening frame.
The Stingrays took the two-goal lead to the second period, but Orlando found a response. Anthony Bardaro scored 8:50 into the middle 20 minutes, cutting South Carolina’s lead in half, 2-1. Stingrays netminder Ty Taylor saw 12 shots in the second period alone, and turned aside the other 11 as South Carolina held on to the one-goal lead going to the third.
South Carolina was looking for insurance and got it from Rinaldi. The Stingrays forced a turnover in front of the Solar Bears’ net and Rinaldi punched home his second of the night to build the lead back to two, 3-1.
Minutes after the goal from Rinaldi, the Stingrays went to the penalty kill, but it was South Carolina with the opportunities while a man down. Simon Pinard found a breakaway and beat Ungar for the shorthanded goal putting South Carolina ahead, 4-1. Less than 30 seconds later, Stan Cooley had his own breakaway chance and buried his 16th goal of the season to give South Carolina a 5-1 lead with 8:09 remaining in regulation.
With a four-goal cushion, Taylor continued to be stellar in net, saving all 15 shots he saw in the third period as South Carolina rolled to a 5-1 victory over Orlando.
Taylor earned his eighth win of the season saving 34 of 35 shots. Rinaldi and Dean Loukus both finished the night with multi-point outings as seven different Stingrays recorded a point in the win.