Glens Falls, NY –- The Adirondack Thunder set a franchise record with ten goals scored in a 10-4 victory over the Manchester Monarchs on Sunday afternoon at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
In contrast to last evening, Adirondack skated out to an early two-goal advantage, courtesy of goals from Dennis Kravchenko and Mikkel Aagaard. First, at the 2:38 mark of the opening period, Kravchenko collected the puck on the left-wing boards and fired it on net, with his shot sneaking past Manchester netminder Jonah Imoo for his eighth goal of the season. Just over two minutes later the Thunder struck again as Aagaard walked down the slot and beat Imoo with a wrist shot top shelf for his 12th of the year. Kevin Lough and Drew Fielding collected the assists on the play, Lough’s eight of the season.
With time winding down in the opening stanza, Adirondack struck again, this time coming on the man advantage with 25 seconds remaining in the first. Forward Cullen Bradshaw collected the puck and fed a wide-open Kravchenko at the back post, who slotted it into the back of the net for his first career two-goal game. Bradshaw and MacArthur collected the assists on the play, Bradshaw’s third over the last two nights.
Just 70 seconds into the middle stanza, the Thunder surged to a four-goal lead as Wolfe found the back of the net for the 13th time this season. Aagaard carried the puck the length of the ice before he sent a pass between two Manchester defenders to Wolfe, who fired a wrist shot from the slot past Imoo for the goal, Adirondack’s second of the evening on the power play. Aagaard collected the lone assist on the play, his second point of the evening.
The Monarchs got on the board for the first time just over a minute later, however, as Ashton Rome found the back of the net at the 2:13 mark of the second period. After Rome dumped the puck into the attacking zone, Derek Arnold collected it and shifted it back to Rome in front, where he buried it for the goal. Rome’s tally was his sixth of the season while Arnold reached 25 helpers on the season with the lone assist on the play.
Adirondack scored again just over two minutes later, however, as James Henry got in on the action with his 11th goal of the season. After forward Gunnar Hughes forced a turnover on the backcheck, he gained control of the puck and sent it to a streaking Henry in behind the Monarchs’ defense, where he put a wrist shot past Imoo for the goal. Hughes collected the only assist on the play, his 10th of the season.
Midway through the middle stanza, Manchester closed its deficit to two goals as they capitalized twice in less than three minutes. First, Kevin Morris slammed home a pass in front from teammate Joe Diamond to bring the Monarchs within three at the 6:47 mark of the second. The visitors struck again at the 9:26 mark while on the power play, as Zac Lynch sent his wrist shot from the high slot past Fielding for his 12th goal of the season. Diamond and defenseman Yann Sauve collected the helpers on the second power-play goal, Sauve’s second of the game.
Stepan Falkovsky scored a pair of power-play goals in just a 17 second span to regain Adirondack’s four-goal lead midway through the second period. With the Thunder on a 5-on-3 advantage, Wolfe sent a cross-ice pass to Falkovsky in the right-hand circle, where the blueliner sent a one timer past Imoo for his 14th tally of the season. Just 17 seconds later, Falkovsky struck again on the man advantage, this time with a wrist shot from the same location on the ice for his 11th power-play goal of the season, tying him for the ECHL lead among all players.
Just 1:33 from the end of the period, Manchester closed out the high-octane middle stanza as Arnold found the back of the net. The Monarchs’ forward took a pass from teammate Matt Leitner and beat Fielding with the Thunder in a 5-on-3 shorthanded situation. The marker for Arnold gave each team four goals in the middle stanza, tying a season-high for both goals scored and goals allowed in a single period.
Adirondack scored twice more in the first 3:21 of the third period to open up a 9-4 advantage. Aagaard scored his second of the evening at the 1:18 mark of the period, as he took a feed from Wolfe and converted past new Manchester netminder Sam Brittain for his 13th tally of the season. Just 2:03 later, Wolfe scored his second of the game as he flew down the right wing, dragged the puck around a Manchester defenseman and fired home for his 14th of the season. Aagaard and Bradshaw collected the assists on the play, Bradshaw’s second straight multi-point game.
Thunder captain Peter MacArthur gave Adirondack its fifth power-play goal of the evening at the 5:49 mark of the opening period to push his team to ten goals on the evening, tying the most goals scored in an ECHL game this season by a single team. Defenseman Patch Alber and Kravchenko collected the assists on the play, Kravchenko’s third point of the evening.
With the victory, Adirondack jumps to 26-14-4-3 on the season and have moved into a three-way tie for second place in the North Division with Reading and Brampton.
The Thunder are home again on Tuesday evening as they host the Reading Royals in a 6:00 p.m. Valentine’s Day puck drop at the Civic Center. Adirondack Thunder individual and group ticket packages are also available for just $13 per ticket in addition to new Thunder mini-packs, consisting of four tickets and a gift card to a local restaurant for just $65. Call 518-480-3355 x1 or visit ECHLThunder.com/tickets to customize a plan and reserve your seat locations today.
-Zach Dooley/Adirondack Thunder
