The Adirondack Thunder and Indy Fuel would wrap up their three-game series as the Thunder. Adirondack would also host the second night of Stick It To Cancer Weekend. It would also be the 14th sellout of the season for Adirondack, a new franchise record. The Thunder would get some physicality back in the lineup as Darian Skeoch returned after missing the last two games, but they would be without their leading scorer, Kevin O’Neil, who is day to day with an undisclosed injury. It would be a similar start to Wednesday, but the Thunder would be able to weather this storm.
The Thunder PK was 5/5 in the last two games coming into Saturday Night, but took their first penalty of the night at the 13:20 mark of the opening frame. Greg Smith would get a breakaway chance and beat Ryan Ouellette to open up the scoring at the 14:01 mark. It was Smith’s second short-handed goal of the season and the Thunder’s 10th, which is tied for the league lead in that department. It would be the 11th short-handed goal allowed by the Fuel this season. Adirondack would take a 1-0 lead into the second period, which saw 13 total shots on goal.
“Ya for sure, you never really plan it for that when you go to kill a penalty but we’ve been creating a lot of chances for ourselves on the PK and I had a good chance in Trois last weekend that didn’t go so it was nice that one went in”
Greg Smith on his short-handed goal
Indy would dominate the middle frame as they would be all over the Thunder. The physicality from Friday would carry over from Friday Night as Ryan Wheeler and Nathan Burke would drop the gloves at the 17:34 mark of the middle frame. Adirondack would continue to hold on to its 1-0 lead despite being outshot 13-4 in the second. Heading into the third, the Thunder started getting the crowd back into the game and used that momentum to continue to hold on to their lead. Indy got a golden chance to tie the game with a late PP at the 15:08 mark. Adirondack killed off the penalty as the finished the series 8/8 on the PK. Henry Welsch would pick up his first career shutout, stopping all 30 shots he saw on the night. This is Adirondack’s first back-to-back wins since February 1st and 2nd.
“It was awesome. It was a good night for a great cause and the whole team was great so it was super fun”
Henry Welsch on picking up his first career shutout on Saturday Night
Adirondack will play a three-in-three with Worcester beginning Friday Night. The Thunder will host the Railers on Friday before heading to Worcester for games on Saturday and Sunday.
ITR 39: Conference Finals – Inside The Rink
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