GLENS FALLS, NY – After being on the short end of a classic playoff defensive display, the Adirondack Thunder knew that the South Carolina Stingrays and goalie Mark Dekanich had the capability to win a low-scoring, tight game anytime they want. The question was how to keep the Stingrays from doing it again in game three. The answer: beat them at their own game.
Led by goalie Ken Appleby’s sterling 28-save performance, Adirondack gave South Carolina a taste of its own medicine with a 3-1 win in front of an announced crowd of 1,931 at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The victory gave the host Thunder a two games to one lead in the best-of-seven ECHL Eastern conference semifinal series between the two teams with game four scheduled for Thursday night.
Ryan Lomberg’s unassisted second period goal proved to be the difference in the contest as Appleby and Stingrays’ netminder Dekanich put on another show, stopping a combined 52 out of 55 shots after the pair turned away 50 of 51 thrown their way in Saturday’s game two.
Playing at home for the first time in the series, fans of the Thunder expected to see their team put a full-out blitz on the visiting Stingrays after the opening faceoff. What they saw was nothing like that, in fact it was the complete opposite. South Carolina came out aggressively, putting the heat on Adirondack’s 21-year old goalie and the defensemen in front of him.
Appleby made one brilliant save, stretching out while going post-to-post to deny the Stingrays’ Kelly Zajac on a rebound. He was not so lucky moments later when Caleb Herbert skated into the slot and whipped a hard wrist shot over the goalie’s catching glove for Herbert’s fifth post-season goal.
After spotting South Carolina the first six shots of the contest, Adirondack began to wake up in the middle stages of the first period. It led to a Thunder power play during which Appleby was forced to make two clutch stops on Stingrays forward Austin Fyten. Bolstered by Appleby’s saves, the Thunder made the man advantage pay off when after two South Carolina players collided, Lomberg got the puck to Mitchell Heard who went high to the stick side of Dekanich for his fourth goal of the playoffs and a tie score.
Neither team was allowing much defensively in the middle frame as the teams combined for 15 shots on net, five fewer than in the first. Dekanich had the best early save, using his mask to fend off a bid by Heard for his second of the game. Later, Appleby had his best moment when he stoned Brett Cameron on a two-on-none break by South Carolina.
The turning point of the second period and the game came at the 14:09 mark when Herbert made an ill-advised pass in his defensive zone. Lomberg picked off the pass, took one stride and fired a shot into the top corner of the net past a stunned Dekanich. It was Lomberg’s first goal of the series and third of the playoffs.
The defenses got even tighter in the third period as both teams knew the next goal would be very important. Dekanich (24 saves) kept the Stingrays within one by robbing Lomberg on another miscue by his teammates. As the game began to open up in the latter stages of the stanza, both Appleby and Dekanich stepped up to keep it a one-goal affair. Gunnar Hughes finally put the game away with an empty net goal with 15 seconds left in regulation.
Tempers flared right after the goal resulting in misconduct penalties being handed out to South Carolina’s David Pacan and Marcus Perrier while Adirondack’s Mathieu Brodeur picked one up at the same time. A second scuffle broke out with six seconds to go with three minor penalties coming from it before order was restored and the game finished.
The Thunder now have a chance to take a stranglehold of the series if they can again hold serve on home ice on Thursday. Game time is set for 7 pm.
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