ORLANDO, FL. - The South Carolina Stingrays faced off against the Orlando Solar Bears to wrap up their Florida road trip. Charlie Combs, Austin Magera, Justin Nachbaur, Romain Rodzinski, and Tyler Weiss scored, while goaltender Mitchell Gibson made the start and stopped 25 out of 26 shots in his first appearance since December 21, 2024.
Combs sniped the first goal of the night a little shy of the halfway mark in the first period. After intercepting the puck in transition from the Solar Bears, Josh Wilkins laid a perfect pass to Combs, who buried his 16th goal of the season.
Magera doubled the Stingrays lead in the second period with a shorthanded goal. Ryan Hofer made an excellent effort in retrieving the puck off the boards to feed Magera in front of the net, and Magera sent a snapshot between the legs of Orlando netminder Ryan Fanti. Jaydon Dureau responded for the Solar Bears with a 5-on-3 goal on a high shot that found the top right corner to cut the Stingray lead to 2-1. Nachbaur quickly regained the two-goal advantage for the Stingrays midway through the second period. Blake Thompson sent a wrist shot from the blue line, and Nachbaur tipped it past Fanti. Rodzinski tallied his first as a Stingray late in the second period with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle to put South Carolina up by three.
Weiss tallied his 15th goal of the season midway through the third period. Nachbaur fed Magera up the boards, and Magera slid the puck across to Weiss, who buried a slapshot for his third point of the night.
South Carolina is back in action on Wednesday night, as they take on the Savannah Ghost Pirates at Enmarket Arena at 7 pm.