Glens Falls, NY – The Adirondack Thunder lost for the first time this season against the Manchester Monarchs as they fell 4-2 on Wednesday evening at Cool Insuring Arena.
The home side opened the scoring for the evening 7:13 into the game as forward Ty Loney marked his return to the lineup with the game’s first goal. Off of a faceoff in the offensive end, Manchester turned the puck over in its own end and it fell to Wallin at the left point, who fired a shot on net that was redirected home by Loney in front of the net. Loney’s tally was his team-leading 14th of the season while Wallin extended his scoring streak to seven games with the lone assist on the play.
The Monarchs came back with a pair of goals early in the second period as they took their first lead of the evening. Manchester first struck at the 4:36 mark of the middle stanza as Zac Lynch buried a pass from Sam Kurker in front of Nell to tie the game at one. Just over two minutes later, the visitors took their first lead of the evening, courtesy of a fortuitous bounce off the end boards. Martin Nemcik’s bid from the left-hand circle went wide of the net but bounced directly to forward Matt Schmalz at the back post for the tap-in goal.
Adirondack fought back to tie the game at two with less than five minutes to play in the second period, courtesy of Mercier’s seventh goal of the season. After forward Eric Neiley won a battle below the goal line, he fed Mercier in front, where he whacked the puck through Williams’ five hole for the game-tying goal. Neiley picked up the lone assist on Mercier’s goal, Neiley’s seventh point over his last five games played and 12th assist of the season.
Manchester would claim the lead for good with 1:42 remaining in the second period as Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman picked up the go-ahead goal. Forward Spencer Watson deflected a loose puck into the path of LaVallee-Smotherman, whose wrist shot beat Nell high on the blocker side for his 12th goal of the season. Watson and forward Mikkel Aagaard collected the helpers on the play, Watson’s ninth of the season.
The Thunder hit a pair of posts in the third period, off the sticks of Mercier and forward Ben Murphy, but were unable to find the equalizer. Manchester added an empty net goal with just over a minute to play as forward Matt Leitner tapped the puck home for his sixth goal of the season.
