ORLANDO, Fla. – Mitch Hults and Dylan Fitze scored and Martin Ouellette made 30 saves as the Orlando Solar Bears (13-9-2-0) hung on for a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Gladiators (5-13-5-1) on Sunday afternoon at the ARS.com Rink at Amway Center.
The Solar Bears opened the scoring in the first period after Hunter Fejes brought the puck into the offensive zone and fired a shot off the pads of Sean Bonar. The puck popped back into the slot, where Hults fired home his first of the year with Orlando at the 9:24 mark.
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Fitze netted the eventual game-winning tally late in the second, as the rookie drove to the front of the Atlanta net from the left corner. Although Bonar made the initial save, Fitze collected his own rebound and stuffed it past the goaltender at 19:44.
Atlanta got on the board in the third period, when Derek Nesbitt redirected a point shot from Vytal Cote at 13:43 past Ouellette.
Ouellette and the rest of the Solar Bears defense came up big the rest of the way, most notably during a 40-second sequence with just under six minutes left in the game in which the Gladiators made several shot attempts that were either stopped by the goaltender or blocked altogether.
Ouellette earned the victory on 31 shots against for his eighth win of the season; Bonar took the loss with 35 stops on 37 shots against.
NOTABLES
• Mathieu Foget led Orlando with seven shots on goal.
• The Solar Bears are now 11-0-0-0 when leading after two periods.
THREE STARS
1) Martin Ouellette – ORL
2) Mike Monfredo – ORL
3) Hunter Fejes – ORL