Thunder Bounce Back in Game Two

  The Delaware Thunder were looking for a season split with the Columbus River Dragons on Saturday night. This season, the River Dragons have been much better on Fridays than they have on Saturdays. That showed Saturday night in Columbus. 

   The first period began slowly with both teams exchanging a few shots. Evgenii Demin opened up the scoring for Delaware at the 9:40 mark in the first. All three forwards went right to the front of the net, and Demin was rewarded with the goal. Aaron Taylor stopped all ten of The River Dragons shots, and Jared Rutledge stopped 13 of Delaware's 14 shots. Despite a chippy game Friday night, Saturday only saw one penalty in period one. 

     Period two was a complete 180 from the first. Each team registered three goals in the frame, and penalties were plentiful. The River Dragons initiated the scoring in period 2 on a goal from Anton Lennartsson. The goal came on the power-play off a beautiful feed from Levi Lind. Taylor Cutting would respond for the Thunder on a snipe from the top of the circle to regain the lead. A quick answer came from the River Dragons right off the faceoff to square things up. C.J Hayes broke free and made no mistake in tight.  Eighteen seconds later, the River Dragons would strike again. This time it was Wyatt Trumbley. Delaware would respond once again. Brennan Young scored on a two-on-one with Evan Mackintosh. Brandon Contratto would add a late goal for Delaware to take a one-goal lead to period 3. 

    The third period mirrored the first: a few scoring chances each way and only one goal scored in the period. Just like the first, Aaron Taylor stopped all the River Dragons; shots in the period. This time, he went 15 for 15. Ryan Marker scored the lone goal of the period.  The empty-net tally put the icing on the cake. Delaware would split the season series and go on to win 5-3. Delaware will head to Elmira Friday to take on the Enforcers.