Night of Firsts for Kasel and Kaplan Lead Thunder to Fifth Straight Win

GLENS FALLS, NY – Goaltender Brandon Kasel made 26 saves and Jordan Kaplan scored his first professional goal to help the Adirondack Thunder defeat the Reading Royals at Cool Insuring Arena on Friday night by the final score of 4-1. In addition to Kaplan, Jake Ryczek, Patrick Grasso, and Joe Masonius also added goals as the Thunder extended their winning streak to five games in a row.

It took the Thunder only two minutes to open the scoring. Masonius made a breakout pass from the defensive zone out to Kaplan in the neutral zone who then carried the puck into the Royals end. Kaplan took a wrist shot from the left circle that blistered over the left shoulder of Reading netminder Kirill Ustimenko to put Adirondack ahead.

Adirondack added to their lead late in the first period thanks to a great individual effort by Jake Ryczek. After grabbing the puck from behind his own net, Ryczek sped up the ice into the Royals zone, went coast-to-coast, and snapped a shot home to make it 2-0. 

Thunder forward Patrick Grasso netted the lone goal of the second period. Nick Rivera forced a steal in the offensive zone and knocked it loose for Grasso, who made a quick pass to Tyler Irvine. Irvine fed it right back to Grasso, connecting for his ninth goal of the season to make it 3-0.

Reading finally solved Brandon Kasel early in the third period but Adirondack found an empty-net goal courtesy of Joe Masonius to seal their fifth straight win.

The Thunder outshot the Royals 46-27 and both teams finished 0-for-2 on the powerplay.

View the game's full boxscoreHERE.

NEXT GAME: The Thunder travel to Reading, PA for a rematch with the Royals at 7pm. 

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