Adrenaline come agonisingly close against Thunder

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The Adelaide Adrenaline – proudly presented by Hards Transport suffered another devastating loss, once again losing by a single goal to the Perth Thunder.
 
The defeat was a tough pill to swallow for the Adrenaline, who battled uphill all game, killing two 5-on-3 penalties and fighting back from 3-1 down to level the scores in the third period.
 
Peter King was inspirational in net for the Adrenaline, making numerous clutch saves to keep his side in the contest.
 
Unfortunately, King’s efforts were in vain and the Thunder stole the contest with a late short-handed goal to Benjamin Breault sealing the victory for the visitors.
 
Adrenaline Head Coach, Trevor Walsh was devastated with the defeat and said mental lapses cost his team.
 
“We know we’re a better team than them, just some undisciplined play, some mental lapses and they’re a good team that capitalises on their chances,” Walsh said.
 
Whether it was a strong start from the Thunder or a poor opening from the Adrenaline is tough to say but what was obvious was the visitor’s domination of the early phases of the game.
 
Perth capitalised on their early momentum, netting the opening two goals of the game in quick succession.
 
“We set ourselves a big task going down 2-0 and then taking needless penalties didn’t help the cause,” Walsh said.
 
Ironically, it was not until Jessyko Bernard took a delay of game penalty for the Thunder that the Adrenaline got their noses into the contest.
 
The home side opened their account with the extra man thanks to Darren Corstens, to bring the deficit back to just one.
 
Period Two was a penalty filled affair, with Corstens once again firmly at the centre of matters.
 
The Adelaide forward took a roughing minor early in the period, with the Thunder capitalising on the resulting power play to make it a 3-1 game.
 
The penalties continued for the home side, but King and the penalty were up to challenge, killing off two 5-on-3 penalties, including a five minute major to Corstens.
 
Thunder Head Coach, Dave Kenway was happy to have the points but felt his side should have sealed the victory in a more convincing fashion.
 
“You always look back and you sort of go, yeah we should have put more in the net, especially having 5-on-3s but at the end of the day, we won the game and that’s what we came here to do,” Kenway said.
 
The inability to capitalise on their man advantage chances almost cost the visitors, surrendering a goal under a minute after the expiry of a second period two-man advantage.
 
The Adrenaline then went on the level the contest on the power play with just over 11 minutes to play in the final period.
 
It was not to be for the home side, with Breault’s short-handed goal the eventual game winner.
 
Perth has now won four-straight games on the road and look to be genuine contenders for the Goodall Cup.
 
The Adrenaline are on the road next weekend for two games in Melbourne against the Mustangs.
 
The next home games are June 4^th and 5^th against the Sydney Bears. Tickets are available online via Trybooking: http://www.trybooking.com/LCOZ