ADIRONDACK UNABLE TO STOP MONARCHS IN 6-3 DEFEAT

Manchester, NH – The Adirondack Thunder were unable to contain the Manchester Monarchs’ offensive efforts as they fell 6-3 on Saturday evening at SNHU Arena.

The Monarchs got on the board first just 4:24 into the first period as Quentin Shore scored off the rush from the right wing to open the scoring. Shore took a feed Matt Leither and fired a shot from inside the Adirondack zone that deflected off the blocker of Thunder netminder Drew Fielding and into the net for Shore’s 12th tally of the season. Leitner and Thomas Schemitsch collected the assists on the play, the 19th of the season for Leitner.

Manchester doubled its advantage just under seven minutes later as Craig Wyszomirski scored his first career ECHL goal at the 11:09 mark of the opening period. After Adirondack was unable to clear the puck out of their own end, Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman fed Wyszomirski in the slot and the 6-4 defenseman fired past Fielding for the tally that doubled his team’s advantage. LaVallee-Smotherman collected the lone assist on the play for the Monarchs, his eighth of the season.

The Thunder connected on the man advantage just 80 seconds later to cut the Monarchs’ advantage to 2-1. The Thunder worked the puck around the offensive zone with Ryan Culkin collecting it at the point. The 6-2 blueliner fed a pass to Stepan Falkovsky, who one-timed it home for his third goal of the season. Culkin and Mikkel Aagaard collected the assists on the play, marking the second straight night that Culkin and Aagaard have fed Falkovsky for a power-play goal.

Adirondack knotted the score at two with just 1:19 left in the first period as they cashed in on their second consecutive power play of the evening. Forward Nick Bligh forced a turnover right in front of the Manchester net and fed the puck to James Henry, who slotted into a gaping net for the game-tying goal, Henry’s second straight game with a goal. The 5-9 forward picked up his seventh tally of the season on the play with Bligh and Peter MacArthur collecting the assists, Bligh’s fifth point in five games with the Thunder.

Manchester struck twice in a span of 1:59 to regain their two goal advantage by the 14:05 mark of the second period. First it was Wyszomirski, who scored for the second time both this game and this season, as he took a feed from Derek Arnold and wired a wrist shot past Fielding for the goal. The Monarchs struck again just under two minutes later as Arnold converted a goal of his own. The UMass-Lowell product took a pass from Ed Wittchow in the high slot and slipped a backhanded shot into the back of the net for his eighth tally of the season, with Wittchow and Kevin Morris collecting the helpers.

The hosts took a three-goal lead at the 16:57 mark of the middle stanza as Alexx Privitera netted his fifth goal of the season, which came on the man advantage. Privitera took a feed from Matt Leitner at the point and blasted a one-timer past Fielding for the power-play goal. Leitner and Gasper Kopitar collected the assists on the play, Leitner’s second point of the evening.

After 7:57 of the third period has passed by, Manchester added a sixth goal for insurance as Zac Lynch scored on a backhanded effort to push the Monarchs’ lead to 6-2. With the Thunder coming off of a power-play opportunity, Manchester went the other way and Lynch rounded the Adirondack defense and buried his backhanded effort from a sharp angle for his fifth goal of the season. Privitera collected the lone assist on the play, his 14th of the season.

The visitors continued an impressive power-play effort as they converted on the man advantage for the third time with 7:14 to play in the third period. After Culkin collected the puck at the left point and first through traffic, Greg Wolfe was positioned in front to redirect the shot past Manchester netminder Sam Brittain for his seventh goal of the season. Culkin and Henry collected the assists on the play, Henry’s fifth point over his past two games.

The Thunder return home to close out the three-game set with Manchester on Monday afternoon in a Martin Luther King Day afternoon showdown. Adirondack Thunder individual and group ticket packages are also 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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