SIX STRAIGHT ELMIRA GOALS SINK THUNDER

Glens Falls, NY –The Adirondack Thunder fell to their divisional rival, the Elmira Jackals, by a 6-4 score on Tuesday evening at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Despite the loss, the Thunder sit three points clear of ninth place Kalamazoo in the Eastern Conference standings with two games to play in the regular season.

The Thunder opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game when Ryan Lomberg found the back of the net for the eighteenth time this season. The play was set up by Michael Kirkpatrick, after he pressured Elmira defenseman Ian Young and forced a turnover. Young lost possession of the puck in his own zone and Lomberg swooped to collect it and beat Elmira netminder Shane Owen with a backhanded shot.

Adirondack struck again with 5:06 remaining in the first, when they once again capitalized on an Elmira turnover in its defensive end. Greg Wolfe gained control of the puck just inside the blue line after an Elmira skater couldn’t secure a pass and quickly dished to Michael Kirkpatrick, who was cutting in from the left wing, and beat Owen through the five hole. Kirkpatrick’s goal was his 27th of the season, while Wolfe notched his 24th assist.

The Thunder pushed the lead to three when Kirkpatrick lit the lamp for the second time on the night. With the teams in a four-on-four situation, the North Sydney, NS native was able to split two defenders to gain control of the entry pass from Lomberg and beat Owen with a wicked bar down snap shot from the slot. The 28th goal of the season for Kirkpatrick was earned off Lomberg’s 16th assist. Mathieu Brodeur earned the secondary helper on the play, his nineteenth of the year.

Elmira got on the board just over a minute into the second period when Kyle Stroh potted home a rebound for his 11th goal of the season. Ian Young brought the puck into the offensive zone for the Jackals and fired at Adirondack goaltender Ken Appleby from the point. Appleby made the original save with his pad but the puck bounced right onto Stroh’s stick and he didn’t hesitate to put it in the back of the net to slice the Adirondack advantage to 3-1.

The Jackals cut the deficit to one with 5:57 left in the second period. After a failed wraparound attempt by Matt Garbowsky that went off the leg pad of Appleby, the puck trickled onto the stick of Cason Hohmann, who buried it for his 19th of the year. Garbowsky picked up his 13th assist, while Spiro Goulakos, who added the secondary helper, earned his 24th of the year.

Less than three minutes later, the visitors tied the game at three with Hohmann lighting the lamp once again. The Jackals set up in the Thunder zone when Jacob MacDonald fired from the point, which Appleby turned away, but Chris Langkow was the first to the puck and quickly passed to Hohmann who buried his 20th goal of the season. MacDonald and Langkow picked up their 18th and 33rd assists on the year respectively.

Elmira took the lead just over two minutes into the third period on Darcy Murphy’s second goal of the season. Murphy took an entry pass from Steven McParland, skated down the right flank uncontested and shot past Appleby’s blocker to give Elmira the lead early in the third. The Jackals struck again less than a minute later when Langkow netted his 13th goal of the year. Langkow received a pass in the high slot from Hohmann, skated to his right and fired while falling to the ice and beat Appleby in the process. Hohmann picked up third point of the evening with the assist, his fifth three-point outing of the season.

The visitors pushed their lead to three just after the midway point of the final period on MacDonald’s slap shot from the point. MacDonald took the pass from Garbowsky, wound up, and fired through traffic past Appleby’s outstretched glove. The goal was the seventeenth of the season for MacDonald, while Garbowsky notched his fourteenth assist. Darcy Murphy added the secondary assist on the play, his second point of the night.

Adirondack got one back with 3:40 left in the game on Peter MacArthur’s eighth goal of the year. MacArthur buried home a rebound off a shot from Louick Marcotte to cut the deficit to two, the game’s final goal. Marcotte earned his 13th assist on the play while Lomberg added his seventeeth helper, which gave him his third, three-point night over the past month.

Tonight’s defeat sets up a crucial home-and-home set with the Manchester Monarchs this weekend as the team’s magic number still sits at four points. The Thunder head to New Hampshire on Friday before the two teams square off again on Saturday evening at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Fan Appreciation Night, with puck dropping at 7:00 p.m.

Full Season Tickets for the 2016-17 Adirondack Thunder season are on sale now for just 13 dollars per seat no matter where you sit. Experience Adirondack Thunder Hockey in a more affordable way than ever before. Full Season Ticket Holders have exclusive access to 2017 CCM/ECHL All Star Classic tickets. For more information and to get your seats now, call 480-3355 extension 1. Experience Thunder Hockey like never before.

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