ORLANDO, Fla. — The Savannah Ghost Pirates, proud ECHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers, saw their comeback effort fall short in a 4–2 loss to the Orlando Solar Bears on Sunday evening.
Orlando opened the scoring just 3:44 into the first period when Anthony Bardaro forced a turnover below the goal line and set up Aaron Luchuk in front to make it 1–0.
The Solar Bears extended their lead 8:20 into the second period as Keegan McMullen finished a rebound off a Luciano Wilson shot to make it 2–0.
Savannah got on the board at the 13:08 mark of the second when Bryce Brodzinski tipped in a Dennis Cesana shot to cut the deficit to 2–1. Ivan Chukarov picked up the secondary assist.
The Ghost Pirates pulled even in the third period at 8:29 as Connor Gregga redirected another Cesana shot to tie the game 2–2, with Brodzinski earning the secondary assist.
Orlando regained the lead for good with 3:05 remaining when Xavier Lapointe fired a shot from the left circle into the top right corner to make it 3–2.
Cole Kodsi added an empty-net goal shortly after to seal the 4–2 final.
Connor Unger earned the win for Orlando, stopping 26 of 28 shots. Kirill Gerasimyuk made 23 saves on 26 shots for Savannah.
The Ghost Pirates return to action Tuesday night against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on FloHockey and broadcast on Mixlr. Tickets and additional information about upcoming home games are available at ghostpirateshockey.com.
— GHOST PIRATES —
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