The Adirondack Thunder continued their three-game, three-city road trip on Saturday Night as they headed to Portland, Maine, to face the Maine Mariners. Despite sitting in last place in the North Division, the Mariners have won both games against the Thunder this year, with Ryan Bischel picking up both wins, as he would once again get the start on Saturday Night. On the other end of the ice, it would be Jeremy Brodeur, who has struggled of late as he had given up at least four goals in each of his previous three starts. Saturday Night would also be the largest crowd in Maine Mariner history with a sellout crowd of 6,076 as they hosted Pajama Night.
In the opening frame, the new kids on the block from Pensacola would give Adirondack the lead as Greg Smith would feed Sean Gulka in front for his first career ECHL goal to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead at the 12:23 mark. Despite getting on the board first in the opening 20 minutes, Adirondack would take three penalties in the period, including two too many men penalties, but would be able to kill off all three against a Mariners team that came into the night 22nd on the man-advantage. In the second, the Mariners would get on the board quickly as Jeremy Brodeur made a great save on Brooklyn Kalmikov, but Wyllum Deveaux would get a juicy rebound and find the back of the net on a shot that Brodeur had no chance of stopping. Maine would dominate the second period as they would outshoot the Thunder 14-4 in the second and would get a four-on-one but wouldn’t be able to find the back of the net thanks to a great effort by Ryan Conroy. Adirondack would have a chance of their own as Andre Ghantous would have a short-handed breakaway with less than two minutes left in the period but would hit the post as we would head to the third period tied at one.
After picking up an assist on the game’s opening goal, Adirondack would finally break the tie as Greg Smith found the back of the net for his first career ECHL goal to give Adirondack a 2-1 lead. Maine would pull Bischel with just over two minutes left, but the Thunder defense would stand tall to solidify the 2-1 victory over the Mariners. Jeremy Brodeur would make 37 saves in a much-needed bounce-back victory for his first win since December 4th vs Worcester Railers. Glenn Merkosky would also pick up his first career win behind an ECHL bench in the win. Adirondack will now look to finish the weekend strong as they’ll head to Worcester for a game tomorrow at 3 pm before hosting the Railers on New Year’s Eve at 3 pm.
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