GLENS FALLS, NY. - The Adirondack Thunder (38-20-7-4) blanked the Norfolk Admirals (26-38-4-0) on Saturday night, 3-0.
In the first period Thunder captain Peter MacArthur took advantage of a lackadaisical Trevor Gerling for the evening's opening tally. The converted defenseman held on to the puck for too long in his own end, allowing the veteran forward to pick his pocket, slide around the back of the net and bury one past Philippe Desrosiers.
Tempers flared and punches were thrown in the second period but there was no scoring for either side. Brian Ward and Zach Pochiro dropped the gloves exactly 7:00 in for the only melee of the night.
Adirondack built on their 1-0 lead 5:26 into the third period on a gorgeous tic-tac-toe from Austin Orszulak, Alex Wall and Cullen Bradshaw. After entering the zone with numbers in their favor, Orszulak dropped the puck from the left wing to Wall, where he would slide it to the bottom portion of the faceoff circle, giving Bradshaw a slam dunk for his seventh of the season.
All evening long J.P. Anderson was strong in net for the home team, turning aside all 23 shots he faced in 60 minutes. The Toronto born netminder earned his second shutout this season in the battle, his first as a member of the Thunder.
The cherry on top for Adirondack came with just 4:49 left in regulation, a lethal wrist shot from the aforementioned Brian Ward. Using Gerling as a screen on Desrosiers, the rookie from St. Lawrence University picked his spot and recorded the final tally, closing the book on a 3-0 win for his squad.
As mentioned, J.P. Anderson earned the shutout victory for Adirondack and Philippe Desrosiers suffered the loss, allowing three goals on 40 shots.
Norfolk now returns back home, where they will take on the Atlanta Gladiators on Monday in the makeup game that was originally slated to be played on Wednesday, March 29. Tickets are available now on Ticketmaster.com and at the Norfolk Scope box office.