GLENS FALLS – The Adirondack Thunder could not hold onto a 4-1 lead on home ice in a 5-4 loss to the visiting Maine Mariners on Friday night in front of 3,523 at Cool Insuring Arena.
Ryan Smith opened the scoring just 1:11 into the game on a hard drive to the front of the net. Smith took the puck to the top of the crease and slid it under goaltender Brad Arvanitis and into the net for his 12th of the year. Assists were credited to Yushiroh Hirano and Shane Harper and Adirondack took a 1-0 lead.
Erik Middendorf scored back-to-back goals to give the Thunder a three-goal lead and forced a goaltending change. Middendorf’s first goal came 7:05 into the game, unassisted, to give the Thunder a 2-0 advantage. His second goal came at 10:01 of the first, his tenth of the year, for a 3-0 lead. Tristan Ashbrook and Tristan Thompson were awarded the assists. After the goal, Shane Starrett came in to replace Brad Arvanitis in the net.
Maine responded with a power-play goal as Alex Kile sent a shot into the net from the right circle for his 11th of the season. Gabriel Chicoine and Jimmy Lambert were given the assists and Adirondack’s lead was cut to 3-1 with 2:04 left in the first.
Adirondack took a 4-1 lead in the locker room as T.J. Friedmann sent in his fourth of the year off a great pass from Grant Jozefek at the right dot. Tristan Thompson was given the secondary assist with 59 seconds remaining in period one and the Thunder took that lead into the second period.
The Mariners responded with three in a row to tie the game at four. Mackenzie Dwyer, Austin Albrecht, and Brooklyn Kalmikov all scored to even up the score, 4-4. The Thunder held the shot advantage 28-25 after 40 minutes.
Jimmy Lambert gave the Mariners a 5-4 lead on the power play in the third. Lambert beat goaltender Jeremy Brodeur for Maine’s third power-play goal of the game at the 9:18 mark. Gabriel Chicoine and Brooklyn Kalmikov picked up the assists.
The Thunder return home tomorrow against Trois-Rivieres at 7 p.m. Fans can enjoy $4 Bud Light until the end of the first period.
The 2023-24 regular season schedule is HERE.
Single game tickets and season tickets for the 2023-24 season are on sale now! For more information on ticket packages, call the front office at 518-480-3355 or visit www.echlthunder.com/tickets. For all the latest Adirondack Thunder news, follow the team on all social media @ECHLThunder.
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