THUNDER OPEN THREE-IN-THREE WEEKEND WITH 5-2 LOSS TO WHEELING

Glens Falls, NY – The Adirondack Thunder, powered by Peter MacArthur’s second hat trick of the season, skated to a 6-4 victory over the Manchester Monarchs in front of nearly 4,500 fans on Saturday evening at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

The Nailers got on the board first thanks to a terrific hand-eye play from forward Mattias Cleland. Just 67 seconds into the game, Wheeling forward Tyler Currier fired a shot on net that was turned aside by Adirondack netminder Drew Fielding, but Cleland batted the puck out of mid-air and into the back of the net for his first career professional goal. Currier picked up the lone assist on the play, his 26th of the season.

Wheeling doubled its advantage with 6:02 remaining in the opening period as Gage Quinney fired his team ahead 2-0. After Christian Hilbrich carried the puck into the attacking zone, he dropped the puck off to Quinney on the left wing, where he fired past Fielding for his 16th goal of the season. Hilbrich collected the lone assist on the play, his 27th helper of the season.

Wheeling increased its lead to three goals just 28 seconds into the middle stanza as Cody Wydo buried his own rebound in front of the net. Nailers' forward Kale Kerbashian carried the puck down the right wing and fed Wydo in front, who saw his first shot denied by Fielding, but the 5-11 forward was able to bury the rebound for his 27th goal of the season. Adirondack made a goaltending change after the third goal as J.P. Anderson replaced Fielding.

The Thunder got on the board midway through the second period as they converted on the man advantage to cut their deficit to 3-1. Forward Cullen Bradshaw carried the puck down the left wing and dropped it into the slot for Brian Ward, who fired a shot underneath the crossbar for his 21st goal of the season, tying him with Stepan Falkovsky for the team lead. Bradshaw collected the lone helper on the play, his 11th of the season.

Despite a third-period surge from the Thunder, Wheeling extended its lead to 4-1 as Riley Bourbonnais scored the first goal of his professional career to put the Nailers back ahead by three. After a shot from the point was blocked down, Bourbonnais whacked the loose puck past Anderson for the goal from the slot. Garrett Meurs and Kevin Schulze collected the assists on the play, Schulze's 42nd of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Adirondack responded as Alex Wall sent home his fifth goal of the season to bring the Thunder back to within two. Wall took a feed from Dennis Kravchenko at the point and fired a shot towards the net that deflected off of a Nailers' skater and into the back of the net. Kravchenko and James Henry collected the assists on the play to extend Kravchenko's point streak to six games.

The visitors iced the game with just under a minute to play in the game as Wydo collected his second goal of the evening into the empty net.

With the loss, Adirondack falls to 31-20-6-4 on the season but still sit four points clear of the Nailers with a game in hand for the final playoff spot in the North Division.

The Thunder and Nailers are back in action tomorrow evening with puck drop slated for 7:00 p.m. at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Adirondack Thunder individual and group ticket packages are also available for just $13 per t¬icket 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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