GLENS FALLS, NY – March 13, 2022 – Sebastian Vidmar scored a hat trick on his birthday, continuing his success against the Mariners in 2021-22, and the Adirondack Thunder topped Maine for the second day in a row at Cool Insuring Arena.
The opening period saw four combined goals – two for each team. Thunder defenseman Joe Masonius who scored the first goal of Saturday’s game – did so again this afternoon, trailing a Patrick Grasso zone entry and beating Stefanos Lekkas at 4:07. The Mariners had a quick response, tying it up at 5:54 when Nick Jermain deflected home a left point shot from Brendan St-Louis. Exactly a minute later, the Mariners used the power play to pull ahead. Marc-Olivier Duquette, pounced on a rebound at the right-wing circle created by a Nick Master shot. It was Duquette’s third goal in his last four games. With 1:34 left in the period, Vidmar got his first of the day, finding a loose puck from a Shane Harper shot through traffic and tying the game at two.
The second period saw a lot less action in the way of goals, with Adirondack converting on their power play midway through the frame to break the 2-2 tie. Lekkas, trying to cover a rebound, got caught out of his net, and Patrick Grasso from behind the net found Jordan Kaplan to shoot the puck into an empty cage at 10:56 of the period to put the Thunder on the top. Both goaltenders remained busy, with the Thunder putting 12 shots on Lekkas and the Mariners testing Alex Sakellaropoulos 11 times. The Thunder led 3-2 after two.
Vidmar scored a power play goal at 8:40 of the third to give Adirondack the first multi-goal lead of the game, as he buried a short pass from Colin Long up over Lekkas. With 3:15 left, Vidmar completed his hat trick, with a flip from just outside the Thunder blue line.
Sakellaropoulos made 34 saves to earn the victory, while Lekkas made 21 stops.
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