THUNDER TAME MONARCHS IN 5-2 WIN

Glens Falls, NY –The Adirondack Thunder returned home to the Glens Falls Civic Center and kicked off a five game homestand with a 4-2 win over their division rivals, the Manchester Monarchs on Friday evening at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

The Thunder got the scoring started a little over two minutes into the game when Michael Kirkpatrick took a Greg Wolfe pass in the high slot, skated to the hash marks and fired into the top shelf over Manchester netminder Colin Stevens. Kirkpatrick increased his team lead in goals to 12, while also increasing his home point streak to five games. Along with Wolfe, Patch Alber picked up a helper on the play, improving their assist totals to ten and seven on the year respectively.

Adirondack scored again to open the second period when defenseman Ryan Constant blasted home a shot from the point past Stevens to increase the lead to two. Constant’s fourth goal of the season was set up by James Henry and Matthieu Brodeur, earning their fourth and sixth assists this season. Constant found the back of the net for the second straight game and the third in his last five.

The Thunder struck again, just 21 seconds later, when Mads Eller found a rebound off of Alber’s blast in the slot and fired past Stevens to push it to three goals. The play was set up by Gunnar Hughes, who dished the puck from Stevens’ right to the opposite boards to Alber, which led to Eller’s goal. Eller has scored in back-to-back games now and has three on the year. Hughes’ helper gave him three this season, while Alber notched his second straight multi-point game and now has eight total.

The Monarchs got on the scoresheet shortly into the final period with Maxim Kitsyn’s backhanded goal from the slot. Kitsyn took a pass from Derek Arnold right in front of the net, switched to his backhand and sent the puck past Adirondack goaltender Kent Simpson to cut the lead to two. Kitsyn leads the team in goals with 11, while Arnold picked up his fourth assist.

The home team answered just 22 seconds later, however, and pushed the lead back to three when Stevens went to play the puck behind his own net. Alexandre Carrier came swooping in, stole the puck and wrapped around to bury the puck in the unguarded net. Carrier’s goal was his third of the season.

After a few minutes of back and forth action, Manchester found the back of the net again, after creating traffic in front of the net. A rebound slipped out to the high slot where Robbie Donahoe fired a slapshot towards the net and created a deflection, which trickled past Simpson to cut the lead back to two. The goal was the first of Donahoe’s professional career. Michael Boivin picked up an assist on the play, his seventh on the year.

Gunnar Hughes added an insurance goal into an empty net with nine seconds remaining to give the Thunder a three goal lead once again. Hughes took a pass in the neutral zone from Dana Fraser, skated all the way down to the net and tapped it in for his sixth goal on the year. With the assist, Fraser now has four on the season.

The Thunder are at the Civic Center for their next four games, including a pair of contests against the South Carolina Stingrays this weekend on Friday and Saturday. Friday is a $10 ticket night for all tickets in the Gold End and Silver sections, while both games will have $2 beers.

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 gift card. Send a jolt into your holidays with the gift of Adirondack Thunder hockey.

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