GLENS FALLS, N.Y. — The top two teams in the ECHL’s North Division squared off for Game 1 of the best-of-seven division finals Friday night before 3,328 at Cool Insuring Arena.
The Norfolk Admirals rallied behind a massive four-goal third period to come away with a 7-4 victory over the Adirondack Thunder. Carson Golder had one goal and four assists to lead Norfolk.
“Adirondack is a dangerous team. You look up and there were 14 shots on the board and four goals. They did a really good job coming off of a series against Maine,” Norfolk coach Jeff Carr said. “I just thought we dictated the pace and continued to wear them out the rest of the game and we capitalized on our chances.”
The Admirals got on the board first with a down-low pass from Golder to Thomas Caron, who tipped the puck past goalie Isaac Poulter just 2:01 into the game.
Norfolk wouldn’t lead for long as Adirondack’s Yushiroh Hirano earned his second goal of the postseason on a power play.
The first period also saw the physicality pick up, with the Thunder’s Zach Walker receiving a game misconduct and boarding call that gave Norfolk a five-minute power play. The Admirals’ Danny Katic put a huge hit on Colin Felix that earned him a boarding call for two minutes. The first period ended in a 1-1 tie.
The fireworks were just getting started. The second period got off to a quick start with Keaton Jameson scoring for the Admirals just 52 seconds in. The Thunder responded almost immediately with Ryan Wheeler burying a rebound in front.
Adirondack took its first lead of the game at 3-2 with 5:02 gone by in the second when Ryan Smith tipped in a long shot from the point.
The Admirals caught a break as Austen Keating had a wraparound attempt kicked into the Thunder net by defenseman Ryan Conroy, evening the game at 3.
With less than seven minutes to play in the second, Adirondack retook the lead in almost a mirror image of the Thunder’s third goal. Smith tipped in a long shot from Conroy to give them a 4-3 lead. Norfolk goalie Yaniv Perets yielded nothing else and finished with 20 saves.
The final frame sealed the deal for the Admirals. Norfolk, coming off almost a week of rest, put up four unanswered to close the game.
“The days off were huge. We are at the point right now where the last month of the year was the first pocket of time where we actually had some time to breathe a little,” Carr said.
🚨GOLDY BLOCKER SIDE FOR THE LEAD🚨@CGolder9 scores his 3rd postseason goal off this shot from the slot to give us the 5-4 advantage! A big start to the third period for Norfolk! @ECHL | #AllHandsOnDeck pic.twitter.com/v3qmhvBAxx
— x – Norfolk Admirals (@NorfolkAdmirals) May 4, 2024
Caron scored his second goal of the night to tie the game at 4 just 1:45 into the period. Golder and Stepan Timofeyev rattled off back-to-back goals to make it 6-4. The final tally came from team captain Mathieu Roy, who buried an empty-netter for his first goal of the playoffs.
🚨THE CAPTAIN SEALS THE DEAL🚨
Mathieu Roy nets his first postseason goal with this empty-netter to make it 7-4 Admirals! @ECHL | #AllHandsOnDeck pic.twitter.com/rUAysJkj82
— x – Norfolk Admirals (@NorfolkAdmirals) May 4, 2024
“We have been facing those guys all year and we know what they can do. We need to put this game behind us and come back for Game 2 and start over tomorrow,” said Roy, whose team beat the Thunder in five of eight regular-season games.
Game 2 is set for 7 p.m. Saturday before the series shifts to Scope, where the Admirals are planning “white-outs” for each game.
