Kasel's First Pro Shutout Seals Sixth Straight Win for Thunder

WORCESTER, MA – Goaltender Brandon Kasel made 33 saves on Sunday night to help the Adirondack Thunder defeat the Worcester Railers 5-0 at the DCU Center. The Thunder used four goals in the first 8:48 to propel themselves to 11-8-0-1. 

The Thunder only needed 24 seconds to get the goal-scoring started as Jake Ryczek took a wrist shot from the right point that snuck by Railers' netminder Jimmy Poreda for Ryczek's third of the season. Colin Long and Sam Laberge recorded the assists. 

Adirondack added to their lead 2:55 later when Jordan Kaplan found his way to the slot and slid the puck in for his second goal of the season and second goal in as many games. Robbie Payne and Ryan Smith earned assists on the play. the Thunder made it 3-0 just 24 seconds later. Payne netted a goal of his own for his fifth of the season with Kaplan getting the helper.

The first-period goal scoring was capped off with an Alex Carrier goal at the 8:48 mark following a rebound off of Poreda. The goal was Carrier's fourth of the season and the assists belonged to Tyler Irvine and Joe Masonius 

After a quiet second period that included a highlight reel save by Brandon Kasel, Adirondack found themselves on the man-advantage and converted thanks to an Irvine backhander. The goal marked Irvine's team-leading 11th of the season and locked in a two-point game for not only Irvine, but for Masonius and Ryczek who assisted on the goal at 10:34 of the third period.

Kasel was tested a total of 33 times throughout the game but kept the Railers off the scoreboard for a full 60 minutes, earning his second straight win and his first professional shutout.

The Thunder put 39 shots on goal and finished 1-for-2 on the powerplay and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

View the game's full boxscoreHERE.

NEXT GAME: The Thunder travel to Reading, PA for a battle with the Royals on Wednesday, December 29th at 7pm. 

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