THUNDER DROP OVERTIME CONTEST TO MONARCHS

Glens Falls, NY – The Adirondack Thunder lost a late lead and suffered their second straight home defeat, 4-3 in overtime, to the Manchester Monarchs on Saturday evening at the Glens Falls Civic Center. David Kolomanis scored 1:21 into overtime to hand Adirondack a loss in its first overtime contest of the season on home ice.

The Thunder got on the board first as Gunnar Hughes fired home a twisted wrist shot late in the first period to put Adirondack up 1-0. A terrific forecheck from the Thunder jarred the puck loose to Mitchell Heard, who fed Hughes in the high slot, where the St. Lawrence graduate would not miss for his second tally of the season. Winger Ryan Lomberg collected the secondary assist on the play, while the assist for Heard was his ninth of the season, tops amongst forwards.

Manchester knotted the game at one with a power-play goal off the stick of defenseman Yann Sauve at the 4:19 mark of the second period. After a series of passes from the Monarchs’ power play unit, Sauve collected a pass from David Kolomatis at the top of the left-hand circle and put a slapshot past Adirondack netminder Ken Appleby to level the score at one. The marker was the fourth of the season for Sauve, while Kolomatis and forward Zac Lazarra collected the assists.

The Thunder capitalized on a late power-play to take another lead as they headed into an intermission, this in the second period. With just 65 seconds left in the middle stanza, Alex Carrier buried his second goal of the season off of another centering feed from Heard to make it 2-1. Heard and Lomberg each collected their second assists of the evening on the play, while Carrier picked up his first power-play point of the season with the goal.

Adirondack took the lone two-goal lead of the evening at the 10:27 mark of the third period, as Ryan Lomberg’s ambitious effort paid off as he snuck a shot past Cedric Desjardins to make it 3-1 Thunder. Lomberg chopped a puck from the right hand corner towards the net, which squeaked between the blocker hand and the near side post for his sixth tally of the season. The goal was recorded as unassisted.

The Monarchs didn’t take long to respond, however, as just a minute and 28 seconds later, Gasper Kopitar snuck a shot past Appleby to make it a one-goal game once again. Kopitar, positioned in front of the net, got a stick on Sauve’s shot from the point to move Manchester to within a goal. The tally, Kopitar’s third of the season, gave both Sauve and Kolomatis multi-point efforts from the blueline.

A valiant defensive effort from the Thunder down the stretch fell just short, as the Monarchs tied the game up at three with just 38 seconds left. Manchester controlled the puck in the offensive zone with their goaltender pulled for an extra attacker and after a Sauve shot on net was denied by Appleby, Matt Leitner put the rebound home for the game-tying goal.

Tonight’s game marked the first overtime contest of the season on home ice for the Thunder, which ended quickly as Kolomanis buried a power-play goal just 1:21 into overtime to give the visitors the victory. Sauve collected four points on the evening, including the only assist on the game winning goal, which came on the man advantage.

These two teams will meet again on short rest as they travel back to Glens Falls to face off tomorrow afternoon in Manchester. Puck drop is set for 3:00 p.m.

Don’t miss out on the speed, skill, strength and sounds of Thunder hockey with a partial season flex or mini ticket plan today. The Adirondack Thunder have several mini-packs on sale now, consisting of two or four tickets, combined with a taste of downtown eating. Send a jolt into your weekends with the gift of Adirondack Thunder hockey. For more information on all Thunder ticket plans, call 518-480-3355 x1 or visit echlthunder.com.

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