Thunder season ends in OT loss
Manchester wins first round series 4-2
GLENS FALLS, N.Y. >> The Adirondack Thunder’s season ended in an epic Game 6 battle that saw one lead change after another before finally being decided, 6- 5, in overtime on Tuesday.
Manchester won the ECHL firstround playoff series on Cory Ward’s game- winning goal 2: 57 into the extra session.
The Thunder took a 4- 3 lead into the dramatic third period, with only 20 minutes standing them and a decisive Game 7.
Twenty- six seconds later, however, Manchester knotted the score and went ahead, 5- 4, midway through the stanza as Adirondack’s hopes appeared to evaporate.
But with 2:34 remaining, Thunder captain Peter MacArthur passed to fellow Clifton Park native Patch Alber, in the right circle, and Alber blasted a shot home to tie things up again, 5- 5, sending the game to overtime.
The Monarchs kept the puck in Adirondack’s zone, leading to three straight faceoffs near the Thunder goal. The third proved fatal for Adirondack as Ward collected a loose puck and fired a shot on net that hit Thunder goaltender J. P. Anderson’s right skate and caromed in for the winning score.
It was the second straight year Adirondack’s season has come to an end with an overtime loss. Last season, they suffered a Game 7 defeat in the second round of postseason action.
The Thunder opened the game’s scoring at 11:25 of the first period as Dennis Kravchenko tipped in a long shot by defenseman Ryan Culkin.
But an Alex Wall penalty, for cross- checking, proved costly as Manchester answered with a power- play goal two minutes later. The first frame ended with the teams tied 1-1.
Adirondack went ahead again 6:06 into the second period, but allowed a goal 17 seconds later, which evened things up once more.
Next, the Monarchs grabbed
the lead on a Kevin Morris tally at 9:13. But the Thunder, refusing to quit, came back with two more of their own as James Henry and Brian Ward lit the lamp to make it, 5- 4. Ward’s goal, his first of the series, came on a breakaway as he lifted a nifty shot into the top right corner past Monarch goaltender Sam Brittain’s outstretched glove.
That’s how things stood heading into third period where Adirondack lost its lead, fought back to tie the score one last time, before going to overtime where the series and their season came to an end.
It was a year f illed with highlights as they won the North Division championship, hosted the ECHL All- Star Classic and welcomed a new ownership group, the Adirondack Civic Center Coalition, which purchased the team from NHL’s Calgary Flames.