THUNDER COMEBACK FALLS SHORT IN 6-3 LOSS TO KALAMAZOO

Kalamazoo, MI – The Adirondack Thunder fell for the fourth straight game as their come from behind effort fell short against the Kalamazoo Wings in a 6-3 loss on Sunday afternoon at the Wings Event Center.

Kalamazoo opened the scoring just 3:32 into the game as they capitalized on a fortunate bounce to take an early 1-0 lead. After he took a pass from teammate Kyle Bushee, defenseman Ben Wilson fired a long shot on net that took an awkward bounce on the way in and beat Adirondack netminder Mason McDonald for Wilson’s fourth goal of the season. Bushee and goaltender Nic Riopel collected the assists on the play, the 16th of the season for Bushee.

The Wings opened up a 2-0 advantage 3:19 from the first intermission as defenseman Charlie Vasaturo fired home his seventh goal of the season. After a sustained shift in the offensive zone, the puck fluttered out to Vasaturo at the point and the 6-2 blueliner sent a shot through traffic that went past the blocker of McDonald for the second goal of the game for Kalamazoo. Forward Peter Schneider collected the lone assist on the play, his 22nd helper of the season.

The hosts took a 3-0 advantage just 46 seconds into the second period as they scored their first power-play goal of the evening. With the puck at the right-hand point, defenseman Blake Kessel sent a wrist shot towards the net that was redirected home by forward Justin Taylor for his 28th goal of the season. Kessel and Kattelus collected the assists on the play, the 25th of the season for Kessel, which brought on Drew Fielding to replace McDonald.

Kalamazoo then increased its lead to four goals with their second power-play goal of the game, this coming on a 5-on-3 advantage. With the puck at the left point, Kattelus fired a shot on net, which was denied by the new Thunder goaltender Fielding, but the rebound fell directly to Taylor who slotted it home for his second tally of the evening. Kattelus and Cameron Darcy collected the assists on the play, the sixth of the season for Darcy.

The Thunder moved back to within two goals as they struck twice in a 12-second span to push the score back to 4-2. First, after Chris Porter’s shot missed wide of the net, Patch Alber drove towards the crease and collected the goal on the backhand, his second tally of the season. Just 12 seconds later, Adirondack scored again as J.C. Campagna redirected home a Peter MacArthur backhanded bid from the slot with 4:12 remaining in the middle stanza. Campagna’s goal was the first of his professional career with MacArthur and defenseman Stepan Falkovsky picked up the assists on the play.

Just 3:17 into the final period of play, the Wings increased their lead back to three goals Darcy collected his second point of the evening with his second goal of the season. After a Thunder defensive turnover, Schneider stole the puck and fed Darcy, who deked to his backhand and slid the puck past Fielding on the breakaway to make it a 5-2 game. Schneider collected the lone assist on the play, his second of the evening and 23rd of the season.

Adirondack moved back to within two goals just over five minutes later as Brett Pollock tallied his 13th of the season for the Thunder. Streaking down the middle of the ice, Pollock took a feed from teammate Dennis Kravchenko, went in alone on Kalamazoo netminder Nic Riopel and scored on the backhand to pull the Thunder to within 5-3. Kravchenko and Falkovsky collected the assists on the play, the second point of the evening for Falkovsky.

Kalamazoo iced the game with 2:52 on the clock as Brian Hart scored his second goal of the season into the empty net to put the hosts on top by the final score of 6-3.

With the loss, Adirondack falls to 29-18-6-4 on the season and sit in fourth place in the North Division, six points clear of the Wheeling Nailers for the division’s final playoff position.

The Thunder now return home for games on Saturday and Sunday this weekend at the Glens Falls Civic Center, beginning on Saturday evening against the North Division leading Manchester Monarchs. 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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