Thunder fall 4-3, in OT shootout

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. » Defenseman Mathieu Brodeur’s game-tying goal with 22.8 seconds left in regulation sent the action to overtime where the Thunder fell to the Worcester Railers, 4-3, in a shootout on Friday.

By forcing the extra session, second-place Adirondack picked up a critical standings point and moved closer to first-place Manchester in the ECHL’s North Division.

“That was a huge point,” Coach Brad Tapper said. “We’ll take ‘em as we can get ‘em.”

The Thunder now trail Man-

chester, which lost to Wheeling, by six points.

With time winding down, it looked like Adirondack wouldn’t have anything to show for its effort until Brodeur’s blast from the left circle hit Nailer netminder Mitch Gillam’s skate and caromed into the back of the net for a 3-3 tie. Tapper had pulled Thunder goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, giving Adirondack an extra attacker.

“He (Brodeur) was to be the quarterback on the 6-on-5 and he did a good job,” Tapper said. “He’s got a great one-timer. We need to utilize him a little bit more sometimes on the p-p (power play), just load him up and let him crank some shots at the net. He had a good one there.”

Once again, however, the Thunder found themselves having to pull a rabbit of the hat after falling behind with key mistakes early on. They played well for 59 minutes in regulation, but a 58-second meltdown, late in the second period, almost cost them any chance at victory.

The loss dropped Adirondack’s home record to 10-8, which Tapper isn’t at all satisfied with.

“I thought our start really hurt us again,” he said. “I don’t know what it is at home, where we’re minus-10 to start the game; the first-period differential of goals for and against. I don’t know if it’s something between the ears or what, but we need to do something better with our starts.”

Thunder forward Conor Riley’s shorthanded penalty shot opened the scoring 5:25 into the contest. Referee Alex Normandin called the penalty when Riley was hooked from behind while skating in on a breakaway.

Riley deked left and right before lifting a puck over Gillam’s right shoulder for the penalty shot goal, his fourth marker of the year. But Worcester answered seven minutes later on Chris Doherty’s wrist shot from high in the slot that Blackwood, making his first start in Adirondack’s goal, couldn’t get a glove on.

Blackwood was assigned to the Thunder recently from their AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Devils. Last year, Blackwood had a 17-4-3 record for the Albany Devils, which moved to Binghamton after the 2016-17 season.

Ty Loney’s team-high 17th goal put Adirondack ahead, 2-1, at 6;09 of the second period. However, the Nailers lit the lamp twice 58 seconds apart later in the stanza, for a 3-2 lead.

Worcester’s Kellen Jones scored the only shootout goal, which decided the outcome.

The Thunder host the Brampton Beast at 7 p.m. Saturday.