Pelham, Al.: Game one of the best-of-three series against the Bulls went down to the wire, with the Thunderbolts just barely falling short, 5-4 in Pelham on Wednesday night, and now must win on home ice on Thursday to keep the season alive. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Thursday, April 11th against the Birmingham Bulls, puck drop at 7:00pm CT.
The Bulls opened the scoring once again, with Scott Donahue redirecting in a shot at 2:18 to make it 1-0 Birmingham. Evansville rallied to tie and briefly take a 2-1 lead, with goals from Dmitri Yushkevich at 3:49 from Scott Kirton and Matt Dorsey, and Myles Abbate unassisted at 17:16. Shortly after Abbate’s goal, the Bulls tied the game back up at 2-2 on a goal from Zac Masson at 18:01. The Bulls controlled play in the second period but were held to only a single goal, scored by Ryan Romeo at 11:05. Down 3-2 going into the third period, Evansville had a strong first half and tied the game again, as Brendan Harrogate scored on a power play from Lincoln Hatten at 7:52. However, late penalties cost Evansville, as Nikita Kozyrev scored just following a Bulls power play at 14:59, followed by Drake Glover on another power play at 15:31 to give Birmingham a 5-3 lead. In a late rally, Logan vande Meerakker scored to make it a 5-4 game with 40 seconds remaining, however the Thunderbolts ran out of time after that. Evansville now must win on Ford Center ice on Thursday to force a decisive third game in Pelham on Saturday.
Yushkevich, Abbate, Harrogate, and vande Meerakker scored one goal each, while Kirton finished with two assists. In goal, Cole Ceci finished with 29 saves on 34 shots.
