GLENS FALLS, NY – The Manchester Monarchs took a commanding lead in the North Division Semifinals with a 2-1 win against the Adirondack Thunder on Thursday night at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
The Monarchs (3-1) will look to clinch the series against the Thunder (1-3) on Saturday night in Glens Falls, N.Y.
The Monarchs opened the scoring at 4:28 of the first period when Ashton Rome scored his 2nd goal of the playoffs. While on the power play, Rome tipped a Thomas Schemitsch shot from the middle of the blue line through Thunder goaltender, J.P. Anderson, to make the score, 1-0, Manchester.
The Thunder tied things up at 15:46 of the opening period when Cullen Bradshaw scored his 1st goal of the playoffs. Like the Rome goal, Bradshaw tipped a shot from the line off the stick of Kevin Lough in the slot, and beat Monarchs goaltender, Sam Brittain, to make the score, 1-1.
After a scoreless second period, Zac Lynch put the Monarchs up, 2-1, when he scored his 1st goal of the playoffs. Lynch grabbed the puck on the left dot after a Thunder turnover and buried a wrist shot past the glove of Anderson to give the Monarchs their second lead of the game.
The Thunder would pull Anderson for an extra skater with 1:08 remaining in the game, but could not find the equalizer.
The Monarchs will play Game 5 of the North Division Semifinals against the Adirondack Thunder on Saturday, Apr. 22 (7 p.m.) at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
Notes
- David Kolomatis played in the 50th playoff game of his career
- Ashton Rome played in his 30th professional playoff game
- Matt Leitner recorded his 5th point of the playoffs
- Thomas Schemitsch made his 2017 Kelly Cup Playoff debut
- Zac Lynch scored the first playoff point of his career
- The Monarchs have killed 16 consecutive penalties