Moline, Ill.: The goal scoring was back for the Thunderbolts after a brief drought, with four goals earning Evansville a point in a 5-4 shootout defeat at Quad City on Friday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game at Ford Center will be on Wednesday, December 31st against the Birmingham Bulls at 7:00pm CT.
The first period was dominated by Evansville as they outshot the Storm 16-7 and scored three goals to take a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes; the first goal was scored on a power play by Evan Miller at 5:33, his first as a Thunderbolt assisted by Connor Federkow and Tyson Gilmour. Evansville struck again on another power play at 8:19, with a Derek Contessa deflection goal assisted by Myles Abbate and Joey Berkopec. The third goal came at 16:53 as Eelis Laaksonen cut through the Storm crease and wrapped the puck into the far side of the net, assisted by Contessa and Scott Kirton. Savva Smirnov got the Storm on the board at 7:27 of the second period, but Evansville answered back as Abbate scored on a 2-on-1 from Contessa at 12:03. The Storm came back with goals at 15:16 by Dmitri Toporowski and 16:32 by Jake MacDonald to cut Evansville’s lead to 4-3, and Toporowski tied the game with 6:03 remaining in the third period to force overtime. Following the scoreless overtime, Laaksonen scored in the shootout, however the Storm scored on three of four chances to complete the comeback, 5-4 the final score.
Contessa led the way offensively with a goal and two assists, Abbate scored one goal and one assist, while Miller and Laaksonen finished with one goal each. In goal, Kristian Stead stopped 28 of 32 shots in regulation and overtime. The Thunderbolts and Storm meet again on Saturday, December 27th at Quad City, with the season series tied 3-3.
