MANCHESTER, NH – The Adirondack Thunder remained undefeated on this young season with a 5-2 road victory over the Manchester Monarchs on Sunday afternoon at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH.
Louick Marcotte led the way with a two-goal effort, while Joe Faust (1-1-2), Mathieu Brodeur (1-1-2), Kyle Flanagan (0-2-2) and Michael Kirkpatrick (0-2-2) all contributed multi-point games. Kent Simpson got his first victory of the season in his first start with a 37-save effort.Manchester opened the scoring with 1:53 left in the first period as Zac Larraza snuck a backhanded shot under Simpson’s pads to make it 1-0 for the hosts. Larraza took a feed from teammate Derek Arnold and put his backhanded shot past Simpson from the lower right hand circle. The goal was the first of Larraza’s professional career and his second point of the season.
Adirondack knotted the score at one midway through the middle stanza as Joe Faust blasted a slap shot from the point past Manchester netminder Colin Stevens. After a faceoff win by Kirkpatrick, Brodeur fed the puck to Faust at the right point, where the Albany Devils send down took a stride in and fired a bullet past Stevens to knot the score at one. The goal for Faust was the first of his ECHL career.
The Thunder took their first lead of the night 8:57 into the second period as Marcotte maintained his hot hand with his third goal of the season, a power-play marker. After Kyle Flanagan carried the puck into the zone, Marcotte collected it at the top of the right hand circle, beat a defenseman, and put the puck past Stevens on the blocker side for the goal. Adirondack netminder Kent Simpson collected the secondary assist on the play, his second career assist.
The visitors expanded their lead to two, courtesy of a Ryan Lomberg goal off of a crazy bounce. Kyle Flanagan took the puck around the back of the net and backhanded it in front, where the puck deflected up and over Stevens, off the crossbar, and right into the path of Lomberg, who banged it home with authority for the 3-1 advantage. The goal was Lomberg’s second of the season and the assist gave Flanagan a multi-point game. Mads Eller had the secondary helper on the play, his first career professional point.
The power play connected once again at the 7:47 mark of the third period as Brodeur capped off a nice passing sequence with a one-timer goal to make it 4-1 Adirondack. The Thunder’s puck possession created the chance, as Greg Wolfe made a pinpoint cross-ice feed to Brodeur, who fired it home from the right hand circle to give the Thunder a three-goal lead. Faust collected the secondary assist on the play for his first multi-point game of the season.
After the Monarchs got one back on Larraza’s second tally of the night, Marcotte responded with his second of the night with 7:31 left on the clock to put the icing on another Adirondack victory. The goal gave the Thunder winger his second two-goal game of the season, with assists going to Kirkpatrick and Alex Carrier, who collected his first point of the season on the play.
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