PORTLAND — The Maine Mariners wish it weren’t the case, but the Adirondack Thunder will be staying in town one more night.
Jeremy Hanzel silenced the Cross Insurance Arena crowd 12 minutes and 12 seconds into overtime Tuesday night, securing a 2-1 win for Adirondack and forcing a Game 7 in the ECHL North Division semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday night.
Tag Bertuzzi, the Thunder forward whose goal with 1:23 remaining in regulation sent the game to overtime, took a shot from the right circle that was blocked by Mariners defenseman Zachary Massicotte. The puck popped up into the air, and the trailing Hanzel gathered it and sent a wrist shot past goalie Luke Cavallin.
It was the second straight Adirondack win in overtime, and the third game this series to need extra time. Five of the six games have been decided by one goal.
“We talked at the beginning of the playoffs about a short memory, and this whole sequence is a good example of that,” Mariners coach Rick Kowalsky said. “We’re feeling good about ourselves, taking two out of three (games on the road) there, and we’re one shot away from wrapping the series up, and now we’re going to Game 7. It’s frustrating. Both losses are frustrating, I think, in different ways, but you got to turn the page. I mean, that’s all you can do.”
Similar to the Game 5 loss Saturday in Glens Falls, New York, Maine scored first with a power-play goal by Jacob Hudson, assisted by Max Andreev. This time, the pair struck at 5:49 of the second period when Andreev found the team’s leading playoff scorer perched on the left side of the crease, waiting for a cross-ice pass.
“(Saw) their D kind of a little bit high, and, you know, Andreev made a great play, back door, hit my skate, and luckily I dropped it in,” Hudson said about his fifth postseason goal. “I mean, our power play has been pretty good for the most part. It’s all we’ve really focused on, is getting shots, getting the puck to the net, and good things will happen.”
The Mariners were 1 for 3 on the power play and 2 for 2 on the penalty kill, including a four-minute double minor for a high sticking called on Wyllum Deveaux early in the third period.
Maine was sound defensively in 5-on-5 play throughout. Cavallin, playing for the first time since Game 2, dealt with pressure well and turned away many second-chance shots (23 saves).
But with less than two minutes left in the third period, Adirondack goalie Jeremy Brodeur (28 saves) was pulled, and the extra attacker made the difference. Hanzel and Ryan Wheeler combined to set up Bertuzzi from the right side.
Hudson said his teammates talked immediately after the game about the importance of forgetting about the loss.
“Do or die on the line, it’s exciting and it’s nerve wracking,” Hudson said. “But, you know, I think our guys are more on the excited side. It’s a big opportunity for us. And like I said, it’s do or die, so I know our guys will be ready.”
Maine was without Jacob Perreault (five points in five playoff games) because of a lower body soreness. Kowalsky says Perreault is “day-to-day.”
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