Thunder seek return to winning form

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. >> The Thunder are out to snap a season-high, three-game losing streak when hosting the Manchester Monarchs on Wednesday in a battle of ECHL North Division rivals. Opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. After breaking out of the gate with a 10-2 record, averaging nearly 3.5 goals per game, Adirondack’s offense has foundered of late with just one puck per contest reaching the back of opponents’ nets.

“You definitely don’t want to get into too long of a slump,” forward Cullen Bradshaw said. “All three of those games, they were tight games. We could have easily won all three of them. Those types of things happen in a long season.”

“This week we’re going to try to get down to business and correct the things we did wrong,” he said. “We made quite a few mistakes. They won’t happen again this week.”

The Thunder (10-5-0-1) are currently in second place while Manchester (6-6-1-1) is tied for last in the seven-team division. But the teams have a fierce rivalry, including multiple playoff battles, and the Monarchs dealt Adirondack a 4-1 defeat last Wednesday that started the Thunder’s three-

game skid.

The contest is the first of three in four days this week as the Thunder travel to Reading on Friday, before returning home Saturday to complete a two-game series against the Royals.

Thirteen of Adirondack’s next 18 dates are at home, as it heads into a critical phase of the marathon-like 72-game schedule. And each game is extremely important because each one is against a divisional foe.

The Thunder won’t play outside the North Division until mid-January.

“It’s much different,” Bradshaw said. “Just from looking at the rosters, I think this division is very tough, top to bottom. It’s going to be a challenge every night to win games. It’s going to be a battle. There’s not going to be any easy wins.”

Adirondack found this out the hard way during the past week.

After losing to Manchester, the Thunder dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to last-place Worcester the next night, before traveling to Brampton on Sunday where they fell, 4-1. They’re now five points behind first-place Newfoundland, but with two games in hand.

Despite the setbacks, Bradshaw said Adirondack gained valuable experience that could pay dividends later on.

“It’s good to get an idea about the other teams in the division because those are the teams we’ll be playing when we get to the playoffs,” he said. So it’s an advantage as well.”