Thunder can advancewith Game 5 win
The Thunder can clinch their first-round, ECHL Kelly Cup playoff series with a win Saturday night against the Worcester Railers.
Face- off is set for 7:00 p.m. at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls.
Adirondack has a comfortable 3-1 edge in the seven-game series, but Coach Brad Tapper isn’t taking anything for granted.
“It’s a very highly competitive series,” he said. “Both teams want to win very badly.”
The Thunder hung for a 2-1 victory at home on Wednesday, and they’re anxious to close things out in Glens Falls. A loss would send the series back toWorcester, where Adirondack had a hard time winning this year, for Game 6 on Monday.
Game 7, if needed, would be Wednesday in Glens Falls.
Should the Thunder advance, they would play the Manchester Monarchs, which swept Reading, 4- 0, in their first-round series. Three of those games were decided in overtime.
Adirondack’s penalty kill has done an exceptional job so far againstWorcester. It was a perfect 12-for-12 in the first three games before finally allowing a Railers goal onWednesday, which tied the score at 1.
Tapper credits associate coach Alex Loh and assistant coach Drew Fielding for making the Thunder well-prepared in this area.
“They do an excellent job, talking about who’s a shooter and who’s a passer,” he said. “Our special teams do a heckuva job.”
He’s also impressed with the role defenseman Mike Bergin, Adirondack’s team captain, is playing during the postseason. The Railers zeroed in on Bergin physically on Wednesday, but he took their best shots and was instrumental in the Thunder’s game-winning goal.
After taking a cross-ice pass from fellow blueliner Mathieu Brodeur, Bergin fired a long shot from the left point, which Brian Ward deflected into the net from 20 feet away.
“They’re good at clearing the puck in front of the net, so we talked about getting sticks on the puck up
high,” Ward said. “Sometimes you get a little puck luck and it goes in. I ended up getting lucky on the tip and it wound up finding the back of the net.”
More importantly, Bergin never backed down when play got rough along the boards.
“He has to be because he’s wearing the ‘ C,’ ” Tapper said. “If your captain plays sof t you don’t have a chance in this game. Your captain has to be the leader. He’s got to be one going to the wall for his teammates and Mike does that on a daily basis.”