The Adirondack Thunder won their second straight game on Wednesday night after defeating the Indy Fuel by a final score of 4-2. This is the first winning streak for the Thunder since they won two straight on Oct.30 and Nov 2nd when they won back-to-back games in Brampton and Worcester. “The team is starting to gel and we’re starting to get our lines figured out,” said head coach Alex Loh when asked about the two-game winning streak. On Wednesday, the Thunder would be led by Mike Szmatuala, Kelly Summers and Gabriel Verpaiest.
So far this season, Adirondack has been getting goals up and down the lineup and on Wednesday, it was Mike Szmatula who would pick up two goals on the evening against Indy. His first goal opened the scoring 1:04 into the game after receiving a puck on a feed from Colby Sissons before banking it in. The second one would come on a breakaway at the end of his penalty where once again, Szmatuala would beat Charles Williams in the net glove side.
Gabrel Verpaelst has shown to be a physical presence for the Thunder so far and has also contributed on the scoresheet in recent games for the Adirondack Thunder. “He makes our smaller guys feel a little bit taller and he’s a leader in the locker room,” said Loh. “He hit Payner very dirty and I just went after him,” said Verpaiest. He also added an assist in Adirondack’s 4-2 victory.
Eamon McAdam would have himself a solid outing on Wednesday as he would pick up his second straight victory, improving his season record to 4-5-0-1. He would allow two goals on 26 shots with one being on a toe-drag and the other on a goal that he didn’t see as it was deflected up in the air and then landed to the side of him and tapped in.
In one of my previous articles, I mentioned that Loh had a meeting with the ECHL and starting in the 2020-21 season, teams won’t be allowed to travel 325 miles in a single day and not have an off-day in between.
Adirondack will start a three-game series with the Brampton Beasts on Friday night as they will play host on Friday and Saturday with both games starting at 7:00pmET. This will come before the Thunder travel to Brampton for a 4:00pm game being played on Sunday.
Goals:
First Period
ADK: 1:04 Szmatula (4) from Sissions and Salhany
ADK: 17:49 Szmatula (5) from Summers and Verpaiest
Second Period
ADK: 13:20 Pierro-Zabotel (8) from Riley and Henry
IND: 14:47 McLaughlin (4) from Noel
Third Period
ADK: 6:31 Summers (4) from Nazarian and Salhany
IND: 12:08 Plouffe (3) from Watson