The Adirondack Thunder came into the weekend on a five-game point streak and just four points behind the Trois-Rivieres Lions for fifth place in the North Division; the good news for Thunder fans is that the Lions got swept by the Orlando Solar Bears. However, the Thunder also got swept by the Reading Royals as the Thunder road woes continue as they are now 3-10-2 away from the CIA. Adirondack also came into the weekend without Sebastian Vidmar and Yanick Turcotte, who are both dealing with injuries. On Sunday, the Thunder activated Wayne Letourneau, who has been out since December 31st.
Thunder’s Five-Game Point Streak Comes to an End
Adirondack started Friday’s game the way they needed to, as Ryan Da Silva fired one from the point to open up the scoring less than five minutes in. However, that’s the only goal the Thunder would end up getting on Friday evening. The Royals took advantage of a PP as Charlie Gerard would tip in on the PP to tie the game at the 15:42 mark of the period, and then with 32 seconds, Tyler Kirkup gave the Royals a 2-1 lead on yet another tip in for Reading. The Royals would add one in the second. However, Adirondack would have their chances in the second as they had three power-play opportunities but couldn’t find the net with the man advantage. Reading would add two more goals in the third as, for the sixth time this season, the Thunder gave up at least five goals to their opponent as Jake Theut would only make 17 saves in Friday’s loss. One of the positives for the Thunder coming out of Friday’s loss is that they only surrendered 22 shots to the Royals, and the last time they kept a team to that few of a shot total was on December 23rd when they won 6-0 over Reading. Isaac Poulter picked up his first career shutout.
Adirondack Blows Rare Third Period Lead
Adirondack needed to come out and make a statement after Friday’s loss, and they dominated in the first period. They got on the board first as Shane Harper got a rebound attempt and put it home to give the Thunder an early lead and would outshoot the Royals 17-7 in the opening frame and barely keep their lead after 20 as the Royals had a great opportunity at the end of the period that hit the post with just seconds remaining in the opening frame. The Thunder played well enough to keep the lead with Isaac Poulter’s help. Poulter only had to make 14 saves through the first two periods, but most of those shots were high-opportunity chances by the Royals. Heading into the third period, the Thunder were just 20 minutes away from picking up their first win against the Royals as heading into Sunday’s game Adirondack was 0-3-1 vs. Reading, and the Thunder had not lost a game in regulation coming into Sunday as the stars were starting to align for the Thunder. Reading came out strong in the third, looking to tie the game up at one. They would finally break through at the 8:09 mark of the period as Tyler Kirkup would find a loose puck and put it past Poulter. Just 6:06 later, it would be a give and go with Max Newton and Charlie Gerard, as Gerard would finish it off to give the Royals the lead, as the Royals would go on to win the game 3-1 as they would put 13 shots on Poulter in the final frame after tossing 14 at him in the first 40 minutes of the game, Poulter finished with 24 saves on the night on 26 shots.
Adirondack will look to get back on track on Friday Night as they finish off their four-game road trip vs. Trois-Rivieres, a team who they’ve had success against this season as they are 3-1-1 vs. Lions.
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