Worcester, MA – The Adirondack Thunder came from two goals down to force overtime before defenseman Colton White found the back of the net 1:35 into the extra session to give the visitors a 3-2 victory over the Worcester Railers on Friday evening at the DCU Center.
White, Desmond Bergin and Conor Riley scored for Adirondack, which came from behind to earn at least a point for the fifth straight game. Tomas Sholl made 36 saves in his first career ECHL start to earn the victory for the Thunder.
The hosts broke a scoreless deadlock with 1:40 remaining in the first period off of a fluky bounce that gave forward Matt Lane his sixth goal of the season. After forward Yanick Turcotte sent the puck deep into the left-hand corner, Lane whacked it out of mid-air and saw the puck bounce off the ice, off of the inside of Sholl’s left pad and over the goal line for the game-opening goal. Turcotte and forward Woody Hudson collected the assists on the play, Hudson’s second helper of the season.
Worcester doubled its advantage with 10:24 left in the middle stanza as Jeff Kubiak scored on the power play for a 2-0 lead. With the Railers up a man, Lane fed the point to Masella, who saw his shot turned aside by Sholl, but the rebound fell to Kubiak in traffic and he slid it into the back of the net for his sixth goal of the season. Masella and Lane collected the assists on the play, Lane’s second point of the evening.
The Thunder cut their deficit to a single goal 5:31 into the third period as Bergin scored his tenth goal of the season to bring the visitors within one. Bergin skated in from the right point, cut towards the front of the net and shot on goal, which was denied by Worcester netminder Eamon McAdam, but Railers’ defenseman Vinnie Muto deflected the rebound into his own net for the Adirondack goal. Forward Tim Harrison collected the lone assist on the play, his fifth of the season.
Adirondack tied the game at two with less than five minutes remaining in regulation as Conor Riley deflected home his fifth goal of the season. Stationed at the center point, forward Andrew Radjenovic spun to his forehand and sent a shot towards the net that was redirected home by Riley for the game-tying goal. Radjenovic and defenseman Blake Thompson collected the assists on the play, Thompson’s third helper of the season.
After a pair of point-blank saves from Sholl kept the Railers off the scoresheet in the 3-on-3 extra session, White scored the game-winning goal 95 seconds into overtime to give the Thunder the victory. White skated down the left wing, around the Worcester defense and slotted his wrist shot past McAdam for his first career overtime goal. Defenseman Mathieu Brodeur and forward Terrence Wallin collected the assists on the play, Wallin’s 15th of the season.
The Thunder are away for the next 17 days and are back in action tomorrow evening at SNHU Arena against the Manchester Monarchs. Adirondack returns home on Friday, February 16 as they host the Brampton Beast at Cool Insuring Arena. Visit ECHLThunder.com/fourpack or call 518-480-3355 x1 to get your UNO’s Four Pack.
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Adirondack Thunder Hockey – This Is Our Team