READING, PA– The Adirondack Thunder erased a four-goal deficit to earn a point but fell 5-4 in overtime to the Reading Royals on Saturday evening at Santander Arena.
The hosts opened the scoring early in the game with a pair of goals just 14 seconds apart to take a 2-0 lead 93 seconds into the game. First, 1:19 into the first period, forward Adam Schmidt fed an uncovered Chris McCarthy in front of Adirondack netminder Nick Riopel for the Royals’ first goal of the season. Just 14 seconds later, Reading struck again as Alex Krushelnyski collected a loose puck in the slot, settled it on his forehand and fired past Riopel from between the circles. Krushelnyski’s goal, which was recorded as unassisted, was his first tally of the season.
After nearly 18 minutes had elapsed, Reading struck for a third, first-period goal just 55 seconds before the intermission. Krushelnyski fed a streaking Matt Willows through the slot where the University of New Hampshire graduate went forehand-to-backhand and put his shot off the crossbar and in for his first tally of the season. Krushelnyski had the lone assist on the play to give him two points on the evening.
Reading opened the second period with another early period goal as Adam Comrie found the back of the net just 1:41 in to push his team ahead by four goals. Off of a faceoff win from McCarthy, Schmidt fed Comrie at the left point where the 6-4 defenseman moved to his right and fired a slapshot past Riopel for his first goal of the season. Schmidt and Comrie collected the assists on the play, the second point of the afternoon for both players.
Adirondack got on the board at the 5:31 mark of the middle stanza as forward Tim Harrison scored his first career professional goal to cut the Thunder deficit to 4-1. Harrison and Pierre-Luc Mercier ran a give-and-go play below the goal line, ending with Mercier feeding Harrison in front, where he slipped his shot past Reading netminder Mark Dekanich for the goal. Harrison’s goal was his first point of the 2017-18 season while Mercier and defenseman Ryan Segalla had the assists on the play, extending Mercier’s scoring streak to three games.
The Thunder struck twice more towards the end of the second period to cut the Reading lead to a single goal. First, Eric Neiley finished a 2-on-1 rush with Kevin Lough for his second goal of the season at the 12:33 mark of the second. Just over three minutes later, Ty Loney scored his third of the season to pull Adirondack within one. After an offensive faceoff win, Dylan Olsen’s shot was turned aside by Dekanich, but the rebound kicked to Loney in the slot and he buried it for his team-leading sixth point of the season.
The visitors knotted the score at four just past the midway point of the third period as JC Campagna converted on the man advantage for his second goal of the season. Campagna gathered the puck from Loney on the left-win boards, moved towards the net and fired a shot over the shoulder of Dekanich for the game-tying goal. Loney and Olsen collected the assists on the play, the second point of the evening for both players.
After the two teams finished regulation deadlocked, the Royals earned the second point just seven seconds into overtime as Derek Whitmore scored on a breakaway off of the opening faceoff for his first goal of the season.
With the overtime loss, the Thunder move to 2-0-1-0 on the season and extend their unbeaten in regulation run to three games out of the games. The Thunder are back in action at Cool Insuring Arena next week as the Thunder are home for three games, beginning on Tuesday when the Greenville Swamp Rabbits come to town for a 7:00pm face-off.
