THUNDER BEST THE BEAST WITH 7-3 BOUNCE BACK WIN

Brampton, ON – The Adirondack Thunder bounced back in a big way with a 7-3 victory over the Brampton Beast on Friday evening at the Powerade Centre.

In contrast to yesterday’s game, it was Adirondack that opened the scoring this evening as Phil Lane fired home from the right wing midway through the first period to put the Thunder ahead. After he took a lead pass from Peter MacArthur, Lane skated into the offensive zone and fired home from the bottom of the right-hand circle for his eighth goal of the season. MacArthur had the lone assist on the play, his twelfth point in his past eleven games played.

The visitors doubled their advantage less than two minutes later as it was MacArthur’s turn to find the scoring column with the goal at the 14:10 mark of the opening period. With Adirondack on the man advantage, they moved the puck around the offensive zone and after MacArthur’s first bid was blocked down in front, the Thunder captain collected and fired home on the backhand for his eighth goal of the season. With the goal, MacArthur equaled his total from last season while Dennis Kravchenko picked up the lone assist on the play, his eighth point in nine games this season.

Adirondack pushed its advantage to three goals with less than three minutes to play in the opening period. Thunder forward James Henry carried the puck into the offensive zone and moved behind the Brampton net, where he slid in front to Lane, who beat Brampton netminder Zach Fucale for his second goal of the evening. Lane’s goal was his ninth of the season, while Henry picked up the assist on the play, his ninth.

Brampton got a goal back early in the second period as they capitalized on a fortuitous bounce at the 3:53 mark to cut the Adirondack advantage to 3-1. With the Beast on the power play, Luke Pither slid a pass to Brandon MacLean down below the circles, where MacLean fired the puck off of an Adirondack shin guard and through the legs of Thunder netminder J.P. Anderson. MacLean’s goal was his ninth of the season, while Pither and Tim Billingsley picked up the helpers on the play, the 19th of the season for Pither.

The Thunder took their lead to 5-1 before the intermission with a pair of second period goals, including Phil Lane’s hat trick tally late in the period. First, Adirondack scored at the 12:13 mark of the middle stanza as Dennis Kravchenko collected a feed from Patch Alber and fired past replacement Brampton netminder Bryan Pitton for his fifth goal of the season. Lane then followed up with his third of the evening, just over four minutes later, for his tenth goal of the season. The 6-4 winger redirected home an Alex Wall point shot by Pitton for the tally. Adirondack has now seen a hat trick in each of its last three games, including Lane tonight, Brampton’s David Pacan yesterday and Mikkel Aagaard on Saturday against Norfolk.

The Thunder increased their lead to 6-1 early in the third period as Brett Pollock redirected home a shot from the outside to push their advantage to a game-high five goals. Mike Bergin fed the puck across the ice to Wall, who put a shot towards the net from the left that was tipped by Pollock into the back of the net. Pollock’s tally was his fourth of the season while Wall and Bergin picked up the helpers on the play, giving Wall a multi-point game.

Brampton was able to trim their deficit by one with a goal at the 4:23 mark of the middle stanza. Beast forward Lucas Venuto carried the puck around the Thunder cage and slid a pass in front to Luc-Olivier Blain, where the 6-3 forward fired home for his fourth tally of the season. Venuto and Billingsley picked up the helpers on the play, the first career ECHL point for Venuto.

The Thunder picked up their seventh goal of the evening at the 8:32 mark of the third period. With the puck deep in the Brampton zone, Gunnar Hughes was able to outmuscle two Beast defensemen below the goal line and feed Greg Wolfe in the high slot, where the Adirondack winger fired his shot past Pitton for his second goal in as many nights. Wolfe’s tally was his fourth of the season, while Hughes picked up the lone helper on the play, his seventh of the season.

The Beast added a late goal with just 34 seconds to play off the stick of Luke Pither, who converted on the man advantage to cut the score to 7-3.

The Thunder conclude their three-game set against the Brampton Beast tomorrow evening as the two teams square off at the Glens Falls Civic Center, with puck drop slated for 7:00 p.m. Tomorrow’s game includes a teddy bear toss to benefit the Salvation Army and a Post-Game Skate with the Team, presented by Glens Falls Hospital. Adirondack Thunder individual and group ticket packages are available for just $13 per ticket in addition to new Thunder mini-packs, consisting of four tickets and a gift card to a local restaurant for just $65. Call 518-480-3355 x1 or visit ECHLThunder.com/tickets to customize a plan and reserve your seat locations today.

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Adirondack Thunder Hockey – This Is Our Team