NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – During the 2015-2016 ECHL regular season, the Adirondack Thunder proved just how good they were by winning 21 games away from home. Friday night, the Thunder made yet another case why for them there’s no place like the road.
Led by two point nights from Greg Wolfe, Ben Johnson and Michael Kirkpatrick, Adirondack stunned the South Carolina Stingrays early and hung on late for a 5-4 win in game one of a best-of-seven Eastern conference semifinal series at the North Charleston Coluseum. Dana Fraser’s goal late in the second period proved to be the margin of victory after the host Stingrays mounted a third period comeback that fell just short.
The win was the Thunder’s fourth in four road games out of six playoff contests this season. The first three came in the quarterfinal round against third-seeded Manchester.
Despite the fact that both Adirondack and South Carolina finished their opening round series in five games, it was the Thunder who seemed to show fewer signs of rust. That was made apparent 23 seconds into the first period when Adirondack’s Mitchell Heard dumped the puck behind the Stingrays net. Peter MacArthur out battled a Stingrays defender and made a wraparound move that kicked off the pad of goalie Vitek Vanecek and into the net for his third goal of the post season.
Less that thirty seconds later, the teams decided to up the ante on intimidation when a post-whistle scrum nearly became a line brawl before cooler heads prevailed. It would not be the last time the two teams clashed in the contest.
The Thunder, who were a perfect 11-for-11 killing penalties in the opening round, turned their first kill opportunity into instant offense when Johnson made a defensive play and broke out on an odd-man rush. Using his teammate as a decoy, Johnson chose to shoot and beat Vanecek at the 3:48 mark for his first goal of the post-season.
In desperate need of any kind of spark, the Stingrays finally found it after more than thirteen minutes of frustration. Joe Devin dropped a pass back to the point where Joey Leach collected it. Leach sent a wrist shot toward the net. The traffic in front of Adirondack goalie Ken Appleby kept him from tracking the puck and it slid past him into the net for Leach’s second tally of the playoffs.
A trio of overlapping penalties created a four-on-three power play for the Thunder with a little under five minutes left in the period. Fifty-five seconds into the advantage, MacArthur provided a screen in front of Vanecek that allowed Mathieu Brodeur to sneak a shot past the netminder to restore Adirondack’s two goal lead and end Vanecek’s as Mark Dekanich came on in relief.
South Carolina head coach Spencer Carbery must have said something inspiring between periods because his team began the second period much better than it had the first. Aided by a carryover Adirondack penalty and another called three minutes into the second, the Stingrays began to find their stride on offense. That stride culminated at the 8:39 mark when Austin Fyten made a pretty pass to Caleb Herbert who blasted the puck into the back of the net to bring his team within one at 3-2. The goal was Herbert’s fourth of the playoffs, one off the pace of team leader Devin.
While that was going on, Adirondack’s offense was seemingly in sleep mode. The Thunder appeared to be content to wait for opportunities rather than force the play and possibly make a mistake. That patience paid off when a shot by Joe Faust was blocked but the puck caromed strangely to the left. Wolfe just happened to be in the right place to jam the puck into the open side of the net for his fifth of the playoffs and a 4-2 Thunder lead.
With the teams playing four-on-four late in the frame, the Thunder broke out on an odd-man rush. Patch Alber moved the puck to Johnson who in turn found Fraser who buried a shot for his second goal of the playoffs. The score gave Adirondack a 5-2 lead that it took into the second intermission.
Having allowed just three shots on net but watching two of them light the goal light, South Carolina knew it had its work cut out starting the final frame. An Adirondack penalty five and a half minutes into the period gave the Stingrays a chance to begin their climb. Step one of the comeback came on the ensuing power play when Derek DeBlois followed the rebound of his own shot and tucked it behind Appleby to cut the margin to 5-3.
More penalties slowed the game to a crawl through much of the middle stretch of the period. It did however at one point create another four-on-four and the Stingrays took advantage. Nick Jones drove a shot at the Thunder net but it was blocked. Appleby did not see the carom but DeBlois did and he popped it in for his second of the period and third of the playoffs.
Down by just one with five minutes left, South Carolina pushed even harder looking for the tying goal. Appleby (23 saves) stood tall between the pipes, determined to not let the win get away. Carbery pulled Dekanich with a minute to go but the Stingrays failed to get the equalizer.
The Stingrays finished the game with a 27-16 shot advantage including a 21-6 margin over the final two periods. The teams combined for thirteen power play opportunities in the game with Adirondack going 1-for-5 while South Carolina was 1-for-8.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday night at 7:05 pm in North Charleston.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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