THUNDER DROP HIGH-SCORING GAME IN BRAMPTON

Brampton, ONT – The Adirondack Thunder’s come from behind effort came up just short in their final game before the All-Star break, a 6-5 loss to the Brampton Beast on Sunday afternoon at Powerade Centre.

Four Thunder players posted multi-point efforts as Adirondack also got goals from Evan Neugold, Andrew Radjenovic, Stephen Johnson, Brian Ward and Paul Rodrigues, while goaltender Drew Fielding fell for just the second time in 11 appearances.

Brampton opened the scoring just past the halfway mark of the first period as Vincent Dunn scored his first ECHL goal of the season to put his team on top early. Off of a 3-on-2 rush, forward Alex Foster skated down the left wing and dropped a pass to Dunn, who one-timed his shot over Fielding’s glove hand for the game-opening goal. Foster and defenseman Mike Folkes collected the assists on the play, Foster’s 12th of the season.

Less than three minutes later, Adirondack knotted the score at one as Neugold scored the first goal of his ECHL career at the 13:14 mark of the first period. After a Brampton turnover in its defensive zone, the puck fell to Brodeur, who collected the puck at the right point, where he fired towards the net, before Neugold collected the rebound, went to his backhand and roofed his shot over Brampton netminder Andrew D’Agostni for the game-tying goal.

The Beast scored a pair of goals less than 30 seconds apart to take a 3-1 lead late in the first period. First, at the 14:37 mark of the opening period, forward Chris Leveille capitalized on a bouncing puck in the slot and swatted it past Fielding for his 11th tally of the season. Just 24 seconds later, Dunn scored his second goal of the evening to put the hosts on top by a pair of goals. Dunn collected the puck near the right-hand point and fired a shot through traffic that beat Fielding on the blocker side. Forward David Ling and defenseman Paul Cianfrini collected the assists on the play, Cianfrini’s sixth of the season.

Adirondack concluded the five-goal first period with 2:45 remaining as Radjenovic scored his fifth goal of the season to cut the deficit back to a single goal. Forward James Henry skated out of the left-hand corner and fed Radjenovic in the slot, where he one-timed his shot past the glove hand of D’Agostini for the goal. Henry collected the lone assist on the play, his 20th helper of the season.

The hosts got a pair of goals from forward David Vallorani midway through the second period to take a 5-2 lead. First, Brampton capitalized on a turnover in the Adirondack defensive end before forward Luc-Olivier Blain fed Vallorani in front for a backhanded finish. The 5-8 forward struck again just over two minutes later as he redirected a Ciampini shot past Fielding for his team’s fifth goal of the evening. The tally gave Vallorani his first two-goal game of the season while Ciampini and defenseman Willie Corrin picked up the assists on the play.

The Thunder pulled a goal back with 2:04 remaining in the second period as Johnson scored the first goal of his professional career to bring the visitors back within two. Forward Shane Conacher entered the offensive zone down the left wing and dropped the puck to Johnson, who wired his shot past D’Agostni on the glove side for the goal. Conacher and Brodeur collected the helpers on the play, Brodeur’s second point of the evening.

The visitors pulled back to within a goal less than three minutes into the third period as Ward scored for the fourth time in five games. Henry slid the puck down to Ward on a cycle play and the Adirondack centerman cut towards the net and fired a shot through D’Agostini from the bottom of the right circle for his 11th goal of the season. Henry collected the lone helper on the play for his second assist of the evening as he collected multiple points for the third straight game.

Just over three minutes later, however, Brampton answered right back as forward Brandon MacLean scored his ninth goal of the season to put the Beast back on top by a pair. Cianfrini fed Foster at the right point, where he fired the puck to MacLean at the back post, where he redirected it home for the goal. Cianfrini and Corrin collected the helpers on the play, the second of the afternoon for both players.

The Thunder were once again able to cut their deficit to a single goal as Rodrigues scored on the man advantage with 8:28 remaining in regulation. While on the power play, Ward slid the puck down to Rodrigues at the goal line, where the Adirondack center drove the front of the net and chipped the puck home on the forehand for his sixth goal of the season. Ward and Conacher collected the assists on the play, the second point of the evening for both players.

The Thunder now head to the All-Star break for the next three days, while forward James Henry will represent the team at tomorrow’s 2018 CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic in Indianapolis. Adirondack is back in action on Friday as they host the Brampton Beast at 7:00 p.m. at Cool Insuring Arena. Visit ECHLThunder.com or call 518-480-3355 x1 for tickets to upcoming Thunder home game.

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