Glens Falls, NY – The Adirondack Thunder saw multi-point efforts from Shane Conacher, Matias Cleland and Jordan McNaughton, but it wasn’t enough as they fell to the Reading Royals Friday night at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls.
Conacher got the scoring started at the 9:05 mark of the initial period when he one-timed a shot into the top corner past Royals goaltender Will King. Cleland and McNaughton picked up the assists, good for all three Thunder skater’s first point of the preseason.
Bo Pieper scored the game’s next two goals, his first when he converted on an odd-man rush late in the first period. The former Thunder forward skated up the right wing and flicked a shot far-side past Sakellaropoulos, off the post and in. Brian Morgan picked up the assist on the score. Pieper added another in the second period after a scrum in front of the net. The puck popped up into the air and over the Thunder goalie’s shoulder to give the Royals a 2-1 advantage.
Cleland tied the game back up at two apiece when he came racing down the left wing in the second frame. The defenseman entered the offensive zone as the lone Thunder skater and fired a quick wrister to beat King on the short side. Conacher and Peter MacArthur picked up the assists for Adirondack on the score.
The Royals regained the one goal advantage three minutes later when Josh MacDonald found his own rebound in front of the net and backhanded it by Sakellaropoulos. Reading capitalized off a Thunder turnover, where McCarthy left a drop pass for MacDonald. After a tremendous first stop from the Thunder netminder, MacDonald regained his own rebound and put it in to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.
Reading added a trio of goals in the third period to extend their lead to 6-2. Morgan had a hand in all three of the scores, finishing the night with five total points on a goal and four helpers.
McNaughton got one back for the Thunder as he found the back of the net with a soft wrist shot from the point with under six minutes remaining in the game. Nikolas Olsson, the rookie from Boston University, notched the only assist on the score.
The two teams will square off again tomorrow evening to finish out both squad’s preseason schedules. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Santander Arena in Reading, PA.
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