The Adirondack Thunder dropped their second straight game on Thanksgiving Eve, as they fell 6-3 to the Newfoundland Growlers. Adirondack hadn’t played any really ugly hockey, a true statement up until Wednesday night. The Thunder looked like they had a little too much turkey, as they started out extremely sluggish. However, Wednesday marked the end of their tough schedule, as they spend the next four against the Railers and Mariners.
Growlers Take Another Bite Out of The Thunder
As previously mentioned, Adirondack didn’t immediately turn on the wheels, whether down the length of the ice, or between the pipes in the goalie crease. They didn’t put one on net until halfway through the first frame, while also allowing the first 10 shots on goal. “Yeah, I think we had a slow start,” said centreman Patrick Grasso. “We didn’t come out swinging like we had the past couple games and that hurt us tonight.”
Entering the mid-week contest, the Growlers were ranked 21st in the league on the power play, however, it certainly didn’t appear that way in this one, as Zach O’Brien broke open the scoring on the man-advantage. Once settled, backstop Alex Sakellaropoulos stood on his head through the opening period, stopping 14 shots and keeping his team in the game.
Adirondack, from that point forward, found a way to keep the visitors from Newfoundland in check, that being the case until the Thunder took a penalty, handing the Growlers yet another early power play. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Marcus Power found a loose puck out front, swiftly poking it in by Sakellaropoulos to double his team’s lead.
The Thunder weren’t having a strong game, and it looked like that second goal would put Adirondack away. However, just 28 seconds following the power play goal, Grasso received a pass from Robbie Payne, wiring it past Evan Cormier to put the Thunder within one. Adirondack would continue to shoot themselves in the skate, taking penalty after penalty, later leading to two minutes of four-on-four action. It was then that Power lit the lamp for his second of the night, extending Newfoundland’s lead, now up ahead 3-1.
That wouldn’t be the end of the night for the Growlers, as once again, they were awarded a power play, which Isaac Johnson pounced on, scoring Newfoundland’s third goal of the night on the man-advantage. Cushioning their lead to 4-1, the Growlers entered Glens Falls, New York with seven power-play goals through their first 12 games.
The Thunder started to storm their way back in the later portion, as defenseman Jake Ryczeck fed forward Pete MacArthur, who tipped the puck in by Cormier to make it a two-goal contest. Hungry with a will to climb back, it was Grasso again with the puck on his stick, sneaking it by a fallen Cormier to draw Adirondack back within one.
Ending their fight for life there, Newfoundland registered one more 29 seconds later, climbing to a 6-3 victory and putting the Thunder to bed. With that, the Growlers advance to 11-2-0, meanwhile, Adirondack falls to 5-7-1.
The Thunder will be back home against some new opponents this weekend, as they play the Worcester Railers on Friday, and the Maine Mariners on Sunday. “It’s great,” said Head Coach Alex Loh. “I think we’re finally getting into the meat of our schedule now, I think we’ve been playing Newfoundland, or a team we haven’t seen before for the last month and a half here.”