It was a pivotal Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday Night as the Adirondack Thunder were looking to tie up the series at one instead of having a repeat of the Norfolk series in which they were down 0-2 after dropping the first two at home. Adirondack had a lot better of a start than they did on Friday Night as they got on the board first as Shane Harper looked to feed a pass in front, but it ended up going off the back of Cam Johnson’s pads and into the net to give Adirondack a 1-0 lead less than five minutes after the opening faceoff and coming into Saturday Night’s game the Thunder were 6-0 when getting the game’s opening goal. Adirondack had a strong first period, where they outshot the Florida Everblades 14-8 after the opening 20 minutes of play.
“Honestly when you get those pucks behind the net, it was kinda a different scenario, I was trying to chip it into the front to either maybe hit the goalie but it was more of finding someone in front for one of the guys to whack it in, I didn’t have a ton of time to look, I just turned and made an instinctual play and i’m fortunate it hit him and he didn’t know where it was and backed in, it was nice to get our team on the board first”
Adirondack Thunder forward Shane Harper on his first goal
In the second the Everblades would find their game as a little under five minutes in Mark Senden, who had a two-goal night on Friday would get a breakaway but Isaac Poulter would come up big and get the save. Poulter’s save would be pivotal as Adirondack would come back down the ice, and Mac Welsher would find Ryan Smith crashing the net as he’d pick up his eighth goal of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, which now leads the Thunder. However, the storyline of the night was Isaac Poulter, who notched his fourth shutout of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, stopping all 41 shots that he saw as the Thunder won 2-0 and tied the series up at one. Those four shutouts are tied for second most in a single season during the Kelly Cup Playoff the goaltender at the other end of the ice, Cam Johnson, who had four shutouts in last year’s Kelly Cup Playoffs as the Everblades would win their second straight Kelly Cup Championship is now tied with Poulter.
“That’s huge for us and that was our goal this whole week was to get out of here with at least one win and getting that out of the way is great and I’m looking forward to getting down there”
Adirondack Thunder Goaltender Isaac Poulter on his performance right now
Isaac Poulter wasn’t the only one who would set a milestone tonight. Head Coach Pete MacArthur now has the most Kelly Cup Playoff wins as Head Coach of the Thunder, with his 10th win behind the Thunder bench during the last two Kelly Cup Playoff runs, breaking Cali McLean and Brad Tapper’s previous record of nine.
“Ya, a bunch of people have reached out, it’s just really cool to see them still following little old Adriondack, the smallest market in the league. It’s fun to make some noice, we’ve said this a lot there’s been a lot of legends in the league that have passed through here and now there’s some pretty cool names in the ECHL that have passed through here. I don’t look into that side of things when it pertains to how many wins Coach Bergy and I have but it’s fun to be part of the history in this building and the organizations that have come behind us.
Adirondack Thunder Head Coach Pete MacArthur when asked if any of the old head coaches have reached out about how special this year has been
The series will now shift to Estero for Games 3-5, beginning with Game 3 on Wednesday Night at 7:30pm.
