ORLANDO, FL. – The South Carolina Stingrays (13-7-2-0) skated to a 5-3 victory over the Orlando Solar Bears (10-8-1-1) on Tuesday night. Five players scored for the Rays, and Mitchell Gibson made 21 saves in the victory.
For the eighth time this season, Austin Magera scored South Carolina's first goal of the game. 12:56 into the first period, Kevin O'Neil charged up the left wing and fired a shot off the left pad of Orlando netminder Colten Ellis. Magera cleaned up the rebound for his team-leading twelfth goal of the season. The Rays took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Jimmy Mazza tied the game for Orlando 8:34 into the second period with a slapshot through traffic from the point.
Leppard put the Stingrays back in front with a nifty breakaway goal. He won a foot race, drove the puck to the net, and slipped a shot between Ellis's legs for his fourth goal of the season.
Patrick Harper made it 3-1 when he redirected a shot from Jon McDonald that was going wide of the net. Nick Leviermann tripled the Stingray lead when he beat Ellis with a wrist shot with eleven seconds remaining in the second period.
Orlando cut their deficit to one with two early goals in the third period. Jaydon Dureau scored just 13 seconds into the final frame when he collected a pass in tight and beat Gibson with a backhand.
With 10:58 remaining, Alex Frye made it 4-3 when he beat Gibson with a one-timer off the rush. That was as close as Orlando would get, as Jonny Evans iced the game with an empty net goal with 1:02 remaining.
The Stingrays will be back in action this Friday at 7:05 pm when they take on the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at the North Charleston Coliseum.
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