SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Savannah Ghost Pirates, proud ECHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers, dropped their third straight game with a 5–2 loss to the Orlando Solar Bears on Friday night at Enmarket Arena.
Orlando opened the scoring at the 9:21 mark of the first period when Jack Adams slid a pass to Anthony Bardaro, who finished from the right side to give the Solar Bears a 1–0 lead.
The Solar Bears quickly built on the advantage, scoring twice in a 56-second span. Aaron Luchuk converted from the doorstep off a feed from Reece Newkirk, followed shortly by Cole Kodsi, who worked his way to the front of the net and tucked home a backhand to make it 3–0.
Orlando capped the first-period outburst with a goal from Jared Lukosevicius, who fired a shot from the high slot as the man advantage expired to send the Solar Bears into the intermission up 4–0.
Savannah got on the board in the second period when Liam Walsh tipped in a Dennis Cesana shot just after a power play ended to cut the deficit to 4–1.
The Ghost Pirates had a Ryan Sullivan power-play goal overturned early in the third period, keeping the score unchanged. Savannah pulled within two at 13:28 of the final frame when Ryan McAllister centered the puck to Nicholas Zabaneh, who lifted a shot under the crossbar. Nick Granowicz recorded the secondary assist.
Lukosevicius sealed the win with an empty-net goal in the closing minutes, securing the 5–2 final.
Jon Gillies earned the win for Orlando, stopping 35 of 37 shots. Kirill Gerasimyuk made 15 saves on 19 shots for Savannah.
The Ghost Pirates continue Youth Sports Weekend against the Orlando Solar Bears on Saturday afternoon at Enmarket Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on FloHockey and broadcast on Mixlr. Tickets and additional information are available at ghostpirateshockey.com.
— GHOST PIRATES —
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