THUNDER EARN ANOTHER POINT BUT FALL 3-2 IN ATLANTA

Duluth, GA – The Adirondack Thunder picked up another point but could not complete the comeback in overtime as they fell 3-2 to the Atlanta Gladiators on Friday evening at the Infinite Energy Arena.

Adirondack opened the scoring just shy of four minutes into the game as Dennis Kravchenko fired home a wrist shot from the high slot for his tenth goal of the season. Brett Pollock collected the puck below the goal line off of a deflected shot and sent a feed through the middle of the ice that found Kravchenko in the high slot, where the rookie forward fired home for the game’s first goal. Pollock and Greg Wolfe collected the assists on the play, Wolfe’s 23rd helper of the season.

The Gladiators knotted the score at one as they scored off of the rush for their first goal of the evening. After forward Trevor Mingoia carried the puck into the offensive zone, the puck moved to Rory Rawlyk who fed Tyler Murovich in of the Thunder net. Murovich slotted the puck between the legs of Adirondack netminder Mason McDonald for his 14th tally of the season. Mingoia and Rawlyk collected the assists on the play, the second assist of the season for Rawlyk.

With less than two minutes to play in the middle stanza, Atlanta claimed its first lead of the evening as Eric Neiley scored on a rebound at the 18:37 mark of the second period. After McDonald made the original save on forward Mark Naclerio from the slot, the puck caromed to Neiley in the left-hand circle, where he fired top shelf for his 21st goal of the season. Naclerio and Justin Buzzeo collected the assists on the play for the Gladiators the 12th of the season for Naclerio.

The Thunder tied the score just under seven minutes into the third period as defenseman Stepan Falkovsky continued his hot streak with his 16th goal of the season. Kravchenko led a 2-on-1 rush into the attacking zone where he fed Falkovsky in the slot and the defenseman fired past Atlanta netminder Dan Vladar to extend his goal streak to five games and his point streak to ten games. Kravchenko collected the lone assist on the play, giving him a multi-point game.

After both teams earned a point from regulation, the Gladiators claimed the additional point as Murovich buried his second of the game just 65 seconds into the extra session. Forward Justin Buzzeo entered the offensive zone and created space with a nice move before he fed Murovich, who placed his shot past McDonald for the overtime winner. Murovich’s goal was 15th of the season with Buzzeo picking up his 34th assist.

Adirondack moved into a tie with the Reading Royals for second in the North Division with the overtime loss as they moved to 26-14-4-5 on the season. Both teams are six points behind the Manchester Monarchs for first place in the division standings.

The Thunder and Gladiators square off again tomorrow evening in a 7:05 puck drop at Infinite Energy Arena. 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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