In the lone game on Monday's ECHL schedule, Savannah outlasted Orlando and set a new franchise record in the process.
Coming into Monday night’s road matchup against the Orlando Solar Bears, the Savannah Ghost Pirates were riding a four-game winning streak, outscoring their opponents 18-7 during that stretch. A victory against the Solar Bears would give Savannah its longest winning streak in franchise history.
The win came, but it wasn’t easy, as the Ghost Pirates edged Orlando 6-5 at Kia Center.
It was Orlando who got off to the hot start, putting 13 shots on goal before the Ghost Pirates got their first. The Solar Bears took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Aaron Luchuk at the 11:35 mark of the first period.
Graham McPhee, who missed the last five games with a lower-body injury, tied the game 1-1 with his first goal as a Ghost Pirate. It came just as a power play expired at the 18:00 mark of the first.
The Solar Bears went right back to work early in the second period, with Ara Nazarian putting one into the net at 1:03 for a 2-1 lead.
The Ghost Pirates then exploded with four goals in the span of over six minutes. Kyle Jeffers notched a power-play goal to tie the game at 9:18, followed by Riley Hughes to put Savannah ahead 3-2 at 10:25. The goal gave Hughes a five-game point streak.
Liam Walsh increased the lead to 4-2, recording the second goal of his career at 12:25. Ross Armour then rocketed a one-timer past Solar Bears goalie Ryan Fanti for his third goal of the season on a 5-on-3 man advantage for a 5-2 Savannah lead.
The Solar Bears didn’t give up, scoring twice in the first eight minutes of the third period. Djibril Toure and Brayden Low each tallied a goal to cut the Ghost Pirate lead to 5-4.
A shorthanded goal by Reece Vitelli turned out to be the game-winner at 9:47 for a 6-4 Ghost Pirates lead.
With that goal plus an assist on the night, Vitelli is just two points shy of the ECHL lead with 11.
Nazarian tried to get Orlando back in the game with his second goal of the night at 10:39, but Savannah netminder Evan Cormier didn’t give in, making 28 saves to preserve the 6-5 victory and give his team its longest win streak in franchise history. It was Cormier’s fourth win of the season, tying him with Wichita’s Gabriel Carriere as the only goalies with four victories on the young campaign.
Seven different Ghost Pirates tallied two points each in the game, and Savannah went 2-for-8 on the power-play and 4-for-6 on the penalty-kill.
The Ghost Pirates move to 6-1-0 on the season, while Orlando drops to 3-3-1.