DULUTH, Ga. – Zach Frye scored the lone goal for the Orlando Solar Bears (36-24-4-1), as the team came up short in its first opportunity to clinch a playoff spot in a 5-1 loss to the Atlanta Gladiators (30-26-7-3) on Wednesday night at Infinite Energy Arena.
The Gladiators took an early 1-0 lead when Nick Bligh knocked in a loose puck past Clint Windsor just 1:20 into the contest.
Frye tied the game for the Solar Bears at 8:24 of the second period when the puck rolled out from a goalmouth scramble to the left circle, where Frye fired a wrist shot past Sean Bonar for his fifth of the season.
Atlanta restored its lead at 10:26 when Zach Malatesta drilled a shot from the blue line past Windsor to make it 2-1 in favor of the hosts.
The Gladiators pushed their lead to two goals with a power-play tally from Brady Fleurent at 4:48 of the third period.
Matt Lane made it 4-1 in favor of Atlanta when he redirected a centering feed past Windsor at 13:25.
Justin MacDonald capped the scoring with an empty-net goal at 17:29.
Windsor made 35 saves on the 39 shots against that he faced; Bonar earned the victory for the Gladiators with 23 stops on 24 shots against.
THREE STARS
1) Nick Bligh – ATL
2) Matt Lane – ATL
3) Brady Fleurent – ATL
NOTABLES:
• Orlando’s magic number to clinch a berth in the 2019 Kelly Cup Playoffs remains at two points.
• The Solar Bears are 5-3-0-0 against the Gladiators this season with one game remaining in the head-to-head series.