GLENS FALLS, NY – The Adirondack Thunder hosted the Newfoundland Growlers Wednesday night in their annual pre-Thanksgiving game. Adirondack headed into the night on a four-game winless streak while Newfoundland looked to avoid their first losing streak of the season after being shut out 2-0 in Maine Saturday. The game started out as expected, with the Thunder falling behind early and needing to battle back. But battle back they did, and the home team pulled out the 3-2 victory to give themselves and their fans something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
The Growlers opened the scoring 6:29 into the game. Forward Zach O’Brien had the puck behind the Thunder net and threw it out in front to Zach Solow, who beat goaltender Jake Theut glove-side. The 1-0 Newfoundland lead would hold throughout the first period and well into the second.
🚨 GOAL 🚨
ZACH 👉 ZACH
O'Brien 👉 Solow#STANDonGUARD pic.twitter.com/qQ6Vr5TGUp
— Newfoundland Growlers (@NLGrowlers) November 24, 2022
O’Brien picked up his second helper of the night when he sent a similar pass to Orrin Centazzo, who was able to beat Theut through traffic for the 2-0 lead 14:08 into the middle frame.
🚨 GOAL 🚨
ORRIN TAKES HIS SCORIN' SHOW ON THE ROAD 🚌#STANDonGUARD pic.twitter.com/ZJHTfiN5WE
— Newfoundland Growlers (@NLGrowlers) November 24, 2022
A little over three minutes later, Noah Corson cut the Growlers lead in half on a fluky goal. He had gotten a couple whacks on a loose puck at the corner of the net, but netminder Luke Cavallin stopped him from in close and the puck slid into the trapezoid. Corson picked it up and backhanded it, deflecting off Cavallin’s backside and into the net.
Noah Corson sneaks one in! pic.twitter.com/62eA1XrXKq
— Adirondack Thunder (@ECHLThunder) November 24, 2022
Veteran forward Shawn Weller tied the game at 2-2 when he tipped in a Matt Stief shot from the blue line just over six minutes into the third period.
Weller does it again at home! pic.twitter.com/9ZEMB0b6g5
— Adirondack Thunder (@ECHLThunder) November 24, 2022
Another veteran forward, captain Shane Harper, netted the game-winner with only 1:36 remaining. Defenseman Ryan DaSilva‘s shot from the top of the circle was stopped by Cavallin, but Harper picked up the rebound and fired into the open net for the 3-2 victory.
PLACE IS GOING WILD!
Harper with the winner! pic.twitter.com/0H31NlbQmS
— Adirondack Thunder (@ECHLThunder) November 24, 2022
Weller: “It’s two points [Wednesday] but the job’s not done yet. We’ve got to have the same mentality coming back into the weekend for Friday and Saturday. I think if we give another effort like that, we give ourselves a great chance to win both games this weekend.”
After picking up a goal and assist earlier in the game, Centazzo left the ice injured late in the third period. A hit by Adirondack defenseman Jarrod Gourley left Centazzo off-balance and a subsequent hit by Corson at an awkward angle finished his night. Solow came in to defend his teammate, as did Gourley, and both received roughing minors, while Corson received an interference call.
“Awesome” PK
Described as “awesome”, the Thunder’s penalty kill was once again flawless Wednesday night and currently sits at seventh in the ECHL at 87%.
Thunder Head Coach Peter MacArthur: “If you have a good PK, it’s a sign of a coachable group. They’ve been awesome on the PK all year. We just need to keep it up, we can’t rest on what we did this game, we have to do the same thing next game.”
Harper: “It’s a sign of a good team to have a good penalty kill. We went over it a lot [Wednesday] morning, watching videos. [The Growlers] are a skilled team and they have a great power play, so it’s something that we’re proud of and we just need to continue going forward.”
Harper’s Heroics
Adirondack’s captain has become somewhat of a late-game hero for the Thunder this season. Of Harper’s 16 points (4 goals, 12 assists), half have come in the third period, six of them in the final five minutes of regulation. Three of those were game-tying points to force overtime and one was a game-winner.
Up Next
The Thunder (3-6-2-1) host the Growlers (12-2-1-0) again on Black Friday, then the Reading Royals (7-5-1-0) on Saturday. They then open the month of December with a 3-in-3 series with the Maine Mariners (6-7-1-0), with two games at home December 2nd and 3rd and one in Portland December 4th.
