Offensive Barrage Continues As Rays Win 6th Straight

Goaltender Angus Redmond stopped 29 shots to pick up a victory in his first appearance with the South Carolina Stingrays (17-11-0-0) and helped run the team’s season-high winning streak to six games with a 5-2 defeat of the Orlando Solar Bears (13-10-2-0) at the Amway Center on Monday night.

Andrew Cherniwchan scored twice in the contest for the Stingrays, while Shane Eiserman had a goal and an assist and both Joey Leach and Jonathan Charbonneau added two helpers.

Matt Pohlkamp broke the ice at 7:21 of the second period, scoring his eighth goal of the season on a pass to the top of the crease by Eiserman. Pohlkamp grabbed the puck and banked it into the net off of Orlando goaltender Martin Ouellette to make it 1-0 Rays. Leach earned the second assist on the play.

Later in the middle frame, Cherniwchan made it 2-0 in favor of South Carolina with his 11th goal of the season from Charbonneau at 16:25. Leach also picked up the second assist on the tally, his second of the night and 18th of the season.

Orlando got on the board and made it 2-1 with a power play goal at 2:00 of the third period when Michael Brodzinski scored after a major penalty was called on Leach for boarding.

Cherniwchan scored his second of the game at 7:22 of the final frame to push the lead back to two goals at 3-1. After tossing the puck to defenseman Vinny Muto, Cherniwchan was ready for the return pass and fired a one-timer past the blocker of Ouellette and into the net. The forward now has 12 tallies on the season and got his second of the night with a second assist by Charbonneau.

The Solar Bears got one back from Mathieu Foget at 11:44 and again cut the SC lead to one goal at 3-2.

But late in the contest, the Stingrays iced the win with empty-net goals from Cam Askew at 18:10 and Eiserman in the final minute at 19:43. Askew’s strike gave him a goal in five straight games and was his eighth overall during what has become a breakout rookie season.

South Carolina also scored on the power play for the sixth straight contest, giving them at least one man-advantage goal in each outing during their six-game winning streak. The Rays finished 1-for-3 on the power play overall, while Orlando ended at 1-for-4.

By out-shooting SC 18-8 when trailing in the third period, the Solar Bears piled up 31 shots on goal in the game, while the Rays ended with 26 shots on net. Ouellette made 21 saves in a losing effort for Orlando.

South Carolina continues their week on the road Wednesday night in Jacksonville against the Icemen at 7 p.m. The Stingrays are back at home to take on Norfolk for ‘What You Didn’t Get For Christmas Night’ on Friday, Dec. 28 at 7:05!

Tickets are on sale now! To bring your group to the game and save, call the Stingrays Front Office at 843-744-2248! For single game tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.