Thunder fall 6-4 to Wheeling on road

WHEELING, W.VA. » A first-place tie was within reach.

Instead, the Adirondack Thunder head to Norfolk — the next stop on their 11-game, 4,300-mile road trip — tied for second place, after dropping a 6-4 decision to the Wheeling Nailers on Tuesday.

The Thunder passed a grueling four games-in-five days test with flying colors, by capturing seven out of eight points from Wednesday to Sunday, in three different cities.

But they finally ran out of gas in Wheeling, after arriving there Monday from Brampton, Ontario.

Tuesday’s 10:45 a.m. start didn’t help matters as Adirondack had trouble continuing the momentum it had built up over the previous four contests.

The Thunder entered the game tied with Wheeling for second place in the ECHL’s North Division. Both clubs had 16 points, two behind first-place Manchester.

By winning, the Nailers are now knotted for the top spot, while Adirondack is alone in second.

Freddie Tiffels put Wheeling on the board first, but the Thunder went ahead, 2-1, with two unanswered goals. First, 5:16 into the middle stanza, defenseman Dylan Olsen scored his second marker of the season on a

power play as he one-timed home a Kevin Lough feed to tie the score at one.

Less than two minutes later, Adirondack struck again as Eric Neiley redirected home a point shot from Lough to give the Thunder their first lead of the game. Lough and forward James Henry collected the assists on Neiley’s goal, giving Lough his first two-point game of the season.

But from there on out it was all Wheeling. The Nailers scored twice late in the second period to take a 3-2 lead into the third session where they quickly added to more to make it, 5-2.

Shane Conacher, who had three points in the game, and Terrence Wallin, scored for Adirondack, but it was too little, too late as Wheeling skated away with the win after finding the net once more.

The Thunder return to action Thursday at Norfolk before traveling more than 10 hours to Manchester, N.H. for a Saturday contest. Then it’s off to Reading, Pa. for a pair contests before finally returning home on Saturday, Nov. 25.