ECHL: Adirondack Thunder Sneak Past Reading Royals For Third Straight Win

GLENS FALLS- The Adirondack Thunder struggled in the opening frame in all three games against Florida, and tonight would be no different as the Royals jumped on the board early as Joseph Nardi got his stick on a shot from the point from Will Zmolek to net his sixth goal of the season at the 1:31 mark of the opening frame. It would be all Royals for the rest of the period, as they would hold Adirondack to a season-low two shots on net in the opening frame. In the second, it wouldn’t get much better as the Thunder seemed to be on a lull through the first few two periods, but Jeremy Brodeur would keep the Thunder in the game as they killed off all three penalties they had taken through 40 and would kill off another in the third as Adirondack came into the night second on the penalty kill at 85.1%. Ryan Smith would get the Thunder on the board at the end of the second as he found a rebound and put it past Nolan Maier to tie the game up at one at the 17:34 mark of the second.

Adirondack needed a boost, and for the second straight night, Nico Blachman would drop the gloves as he and Koletrane Wilson squared off, and for the first time, the “Nico” chants broke out in the Cool Insuring Arena, “I’m loving it just as much as they are” said Blachman when asked about the chants. It seemed as for the second straight game, the Thunder would be headed to OT, but it would be Matt Stief who would beat Nolan Maier coming down the wing to net his first goal since November 4th, “Honestly, I was looking to shoot off the pad to go back to Jozy {Grant Jozefek} backdoor, sometimes you get lucky and it goes in, I’m not complaining that it went in” said Steif after the game. Jeremy Brodeur has been lights out in his last two games stopping 66 of the last 67 shots that he’s faced, “Ya, anytime you’re playing well, you wanna get right back in the net, so it was nice to get right back in there and keep that going” said Brodeur who has had three back to back starts and has won all three of the games on the backend, as he made 35 saves for his sixth win of the season. “We gotta bend and not break. I think Reading played a very good road game, and we just seemed like we didn’t have the proper type of energy tonight and we found a way to win without giving up that many points, so it’s a big win for us,” said Head Coach Pete MacArthur on Wednesday Night’s win.