The Adirondack Thunder came into this weekend with a 6-1 record on the road, as their only road loss came on Opening Night at the DCU Center, and the Thunder have now played six of their nine games road this season at the DCU Center with the only other matchup in Worcester accruing on March 16th. Adirondack was a bit short-handed this weekend as Erik Middendorf and Yushiro Hirano were called up to Utica, and goaltender Tyler Brennan was out with an undisclosed injury, but Zach Walker would make his season debut for the Thunder, Tate Leeson would sign with the Thunder, and Jeremy Brodeur and Vinnie Purpura took care of the goaltending duties during the two-game set in Worcester.
Piercy Gets First Pro Goal as Railers Win Third Straight vs Adirondack
The Adirondack Thunder came into Worcester on Friday Night riding a three-game winning streak as they had taken the final three games of their seven-game homestand in which they went 4-2-1. Worcester would get an early chance to open the scoring as they got a three-on-one but failed to hit the net as the Thunder would eventually open up the scoring as Shane Harper fed Tristan Ashbrook on a breakaway as he beat Henrik Tikkanen at the 9:31 mark of the opening period. The Thunder looked to head to the locker room with a 1-0 lead, but it would be Riley Piercy who would net his first goal of the season to tie the game as there was less than a minute remaining in the opening frame. In the second, it would be all Railers as they would outshoot Adirondack 17-6 as Jeremy Brodeur, who has been fantastic for the Thunder all season, would stop all 17 shots he faced, and the Thunder had a great chance to take the lead on a 5 on 3 as the Railers would take two penalties on the night, but they would come 33 seconds apart, and the Thunder would begin the third Period on the PP.
Worcester would be able to kill that five on three, and then at the 10:56 mark of the period, Tikkanen would feed Blade Jenkins as he beat Brodeur to give the Railers a 2-1 lead. Grant Jozefek had 18 goals in 68 games last season, but through 14 games this year, he had yet to find the back of the net at the 17:01 mark, he’d find a puck coming off the boards and put it home to tie the game at two as it looked like Adirondack would walk away with at least a point. Adirondack would get a chance in the final minute, but it would be a Will MacKinnon shot that went wide that would lead to a Railers odd-man rush as their captain Anthony Repaci would take advantage and score with 40 seconds left in the third to make it a 3-2 game, Andrei Bakanov would add an empty netter as Adirondack’s three-game winning streak would come to a halt. Jeremy Brodeur would make 37 saves in the loss.
Purpura’s Strong Night Leads Thunder to SO Win
Coming into Saturday Night, Vinnie Purpura had played in 11 games with the Thunder since he signed with the team late last season; the Thunder have picked up points in 10 of those games. Adirondack has gotten off to slow starts recently, and tonight, Worcester had a few good chances early, but it would be a shot from Jack Jeffers from the circle that would beat Tristan Lennox as Jeffers picked up his second goal of the season at the 10:21 mark of the opening frame. On Friday Night, it was a late third-period goal that would cost Adirondack the game, and on Saturday, it would be Keeghan Howdeshell who forced a turnover and made a nice move on Purpura to unleash the Teddy Bears and tie the game for the Railers with 53 seconds left in the period before the teams would head to the locker room and would finish the remaining of the period after the ice was cleaned. Adirondack would bounce back in the second period as they held Worcester to only four shots on goal in the period. The Thunder would finally find a way to score on the PP as Mike Gillespie deflected a shot from Tristan Thompson as Adirondack regained the lead at the 5:44 mark of the middle frame. Anthony Repaci has had a lot of success against Adirondack this season as he found the back of the net at the 13:33 mark on a deflection in front that beat Purpura. Repaci continued his success against Adirondack this season, as both of his goals and three of his four points have come against the Thunder. The Thunder would get a five-on-three at the end of the second but failed to convert.
Neither team would score in the third in an evenly-matched third period, as the game would head to OT. Adirondack did a great job at staying out of the box on Saturday; however, the one penalty they took was in OT, but the Thunder would kill it off as each team would get their fair share of opportunities in the OT, ultimately, the game would have to be decided in a shootout, and it would take four rounds, but it would be the Thunder captain Patrick Grasso that would send the Thunder back to Glens Falls with two points as they begin a busy week with four games in five days beginning on Wednesday for their first game of the season vs Newfoundland Growlers.
