Stingrays Bounce Back, Beat Solar Bears 4-1 in North Charleston

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — The South Carolina Stingrays answered their first defeat of the season with a 4-1 win over the Orlando Solar Bears on Friday night at the North Charleston Coliseum, where 5,402 fans turned out.

Ben Kraws turned aside 25 of the 26 shots Orlando put on goal and is now 5-0 in his starts. Four different players scored for South Carolina, and Jaylen Luypen set up two of the goals.

Tyler Kopff opened the scoring a little more than five minutes into the game by knocking in a rebound. Zack Andrusiak doubled the lead on a power play in the second period after a fight between defenseman Jeremie Biakabutuka and Orlando forward Brennan Saulnier drew a double minor against the Solar Bears.

Aaron Luchuk got Orlando within a goal early in the third on a two-man advantage, but Cam Morrison scored off a feed from Alex Gaffney with 8:55 left and Ludwig Persson added an empty-net goal to close it out.

The Stingrays came into the night at 5-1 after a 5-2 home loss to the Atlanta Gladiators on Sunday, and their power play led the ECHL at 38.1%. It was also their first game without leading goal scorer Ryan Sandelin, who signed a tryout deal with the AHL Rochester Americans this week.

The two teams meet again Saturday at 6:05 p.m. at the Coliseum for K-Pop Night, before the Stingrays head to Florida for two games against the Everblades on Nov. 13 and 14.

Filed under: Charleston SC Sports News