THUNDER SHINE IN 3-2 OVERTIME WIN OVER KOMETS

Glens Falls, NY – The Adirondack Thunder earned two points in thrilling fashion as Shane Conacher scored with 53 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the hosts to a 3-2 victory over Fort Wayne on Friday evening at Cool Insuring Arena.

Forward Brian Ward and defenseman Adam Larkin also scored for Adirondack, while forward Troy Bourke tied an ECHL career-high with three assists in the victory. Goaltender Olivier Mantha made 25 saves as he earned his first victory at Cool Insuring Arena.

The Thunder opened the scoring midway through the first period as Larkin tallied the first goal of his professional career to put the hosts ahead by one. Stationed at the right point, forward Shane Conacher threaded a pass through the slot to a crashing Larkin, who one-timed his shot past Fort Wayne goaltender Cam Lanigan from the left-hand circle for the goal. Conacher and forward Troy Bourke tallied the assists on the play, Conacher’s 39th of the season.

Fort Wayne fought back with two goals early in the second period to take its first lead of the evening. First, 4:36 into the middle stanza, the Komets scored a 5-on-3 goal as defenseman Bobby Shea one-timed a cross-ice feed from forward Zac Larraza for his eighth goal of the season. The visitors scored again 68 seconds later as forward Russell Jordan scored his first goal of the season just after the Fort Wayne power play expired. Stationed below the goal line, Jordan carried the puck to the front of the net and beat Mantha with a backhanded shot to give his team the advantage.

Adirondack came back to knot the score at two early in the third period as Ward collected his team-leading 26th goal of the season. Larkin forced a turnover deep in the attacking zone and the puck moved to Bourke, whose backhanded effort hit the post. The 5-10 forward regained possession and fed Ward in the low slot, where his shot trickled over Lanigan for the goal. Bourke and Larkin collected the assists on the play as Larkin picked up his first career multi-point game.

After neither team was able to break the deadlock in regulation, Adirondack ended the game in overtime with 53 seconds left on the clock. Ward created a turnover in the offensive zone before Bourke collected the puck and fed Conacher, who outlasted Lanigan for the goal, his 15th tally of the season. Bourke and Ward collected the assists on the game, Bourke’s third assist of the evening.

The Thunder are back in action tomorrow afternoon as they host the Wheeling Nailers at 3:00 p.m. in a St. Patrick’s Day showdown at Cool Insuring Arena. Visit ECHLThunder.com or call 518-480-3355 x1 to get tickets for all upcoming Thunder home games.

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