NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The South Carolina Stingrays set a new franchise single-season wins record by winning their 49th game of the season on Saturday night in their final regular season home game. In a 5-1 victory over the Orlando Solar Bears at the North Charleston Coliseum, the Rays secured their fourteenth consecutive win. Stingrays goals scorers were Jayden Lee (2), Kyler Kupka, Tyler Weiss, and Dean Loukus for the Stingrays. Goaltender Mitchell Gibson made 26 saves out of 27 shots, helping him earn his tenth consecutive victory.
The Stingrays quickly took a 1-0 lead when Lee scored a goal just 1:08 into the first period, assisted by Alexander Suzdalev; this was the lone goal of the period.
Kupka scored a power play goal 27 seconds into the second period, doubling the Stingray lead. Weiss took a shot that deflected off Kupka and went into the net. This marked Kupka’s team-leading 27th goal of the season. Weiss furthered South Carolina’s lead with a spectacular between-the-legs goal 4:51 into the second period. On the secondary assist, Lynden Breen achieved his first professional point.
After Weiss scored a goal, Luke Pavicich took over as the goalie for the Solar Bears. Later in the second period, Lee scored his second goal of the night, putting South Carolina up 4-0. Weiss flipped the puck over the net, and Lee found it, sending it past Pavicich for the goal. This was Lee’s fifth goal in his last four games.
Orlando got on the board with a power play goal by Jack Adams 12:20 into the second period.
Orlando pulled Pavicich the last minute of the game to put an extra attacker on the ice. Loukus seized the loose puck along the right wing boards and managed to score his third goal of the season into the empty net, extending the lead to 5-1.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Julie Taylor for highlights from the game.
Discover more from Inside The Rink
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
