Two fast goals in the first period gave the Adirondack Thunder a boost en route to a 5-4 win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Peter MacArthur scored 23 seconds in and Ben Johnson caught the Rays napping to score shorthanded three minutes later.
A Joey Leach shot from the point made its way through traffic to bring the game within one, but Mathieu Broduer‘s power play goal gave Spencer Carbery reason enough to lift Vitek Vanecek from the net.
Mark Dekanich had not played since Game 3 in Kalamazoo; he only faced two shots in the 3:47 of first period relief. Vanecek made five saves on eight overall shots from Adirondack.
At the turn of the periods, the Stingrays and Thunder evened out. Neither offense could get set up in the offensive zone for extended periods, but the Rays still shot the puck more.
Caleb Herbert scored his fourth of the playoffs to bring the game back within one. Defenseman Nick D’Agostino pinched in from the point with the puck and got it to Austin Fyten behind the net. Fyten skated backwards toward the left post while Herbert parked at the right side. With little room for error, Fyten got the puck on the tape for the back-door look.
Greg Wolfe restored the two-goal advantage. Michael Kirkpatrick got his shot blocked by Wade Epp on a 3-on-2 rush, but the deflection found Joe Faust. With Dekanich well out of his crease, Faust hit Wolfe in the left circle to put the puck on a wide-open net. Dekanich’s lunging effort missed the puck.
The Rays outshot the Thunder 10-3 in the second, but the visitors scored on their second and third shots to go into intermission up by three. Another textbook zone breakout turned into a 3-on-2 rush for Patch Abler, Johnson, and Dana Fraser. That would be the passing sequence to get Adirondack a three-goal advantage.
After going 0-for-5 on their power plays thus far, the Rays needed one goal when Ryan Constant went to the box for tripping. Derek DeBlois carried the puck over the blue line on his own and split the D shooting it at Ken Appleby. The rebound popped back out for DeBlois, following his shot to the net, to bring the game within two. The Rays ended the game 1-for-8 with the man-advantage.
With 4-on-4 expiring late in the third, DeBlois found himself again chasing his own rebound to score. Three seconds prior to the Rays going shorthanded, DeBlois’ shot caromed back to him for a second chance. He buried it to give South Carolina a chance in the final five minutes of play.
Adirondack did not get a shot at Dekanich in the last eight minutes of the game. On the final faceoff with 1.1 seconds remaining, David Pacan got one final shot at Appleby. The puck got blocked away and Adirondack won the first game in the best-of-seven series.
Dekanich took the loss and made six saves on the eight shots he faced in relief of Vanecek. Appleby stopped 23 of the 27 shots from the Stingrays.
Game 2 will be tomorrow night from the North Charleston Coliseum. The series will shift to Glen Falls Civic Center for Games 3 through 5.
