Huntsville, Al.: In his return from the ECHL, Scott Kirton made a tremendous impact, scoring twice and adding an assist. However, it was not enough as the Thunderbolts fell 5-3 to the Havoc in Huntsville on Friday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Sunday, March 10th against the Pensacola Ice Flyers, puck drop at 3:00pm CT.
Kirton scored the first goal of the game, his 50th as an Evansville Thunderbolt, coming at 4:56 from Matthew Hobbs and Nick Prestia to give Evansville the first lead of the night. However, an Evansville penalty turned the tide of momentum, as the Havoc scored on the power play for their first of four goals in less than six minutes to take a 4-1 lead, with goals from Dylan Stewart at 7:34, Alex Kielczewski at 9:04, Eric Henderson at 10:23, and David Thomson at 13:26. The fourth goal resulted in a goaltending change as Brendahn Brawley was swapped for Ty Taylor. The change helped give the Thunderbolts a boost, as they shut down the Havoc for the rest of the first period and were able to get some pressure going in the attacking zone again.
The Thunderbolts’ best period was the second period, outshooting the Havoc 10-6 and scoring the lone goal, as Kirton scored unassisted at 15:24 to make it a 4-2 game. The third period started strong as well, as Myles Abbate scored from Kirton only 26 seconds into the third period to bring Evansville to within only a 4-3 deficit. Penalties ended their momentum however, as the Havoc scored another power play goal from Stewart at 11:23 to give the Havoc a 5-3 lead. Despite gaining a 5-on-3 power play opportunity of their own shortly afterward, the Thunderbolts could not convert and were denied any further goals the rest of the way, falling by a 5-3 score.
Kirton finished with two goals and an assist, while Abbate scored one goal. In goal, Brawley made 11 saves on 15 shots before being swapped for Taylor, who stopped 24 of 25 shots the rest of the way. The Thunderbolts and Havoc meet again on Saturday, March 9th at Von Braun Center.
