ECHL Game Recap: Reading Royals vs Adirondack Thunder | 03/21/2026

The Adirondack Thunder and Reading Royals faced off on Saturday Night to complete the season series, as the Thunder were 3-1-2-1 against the Royals heading into Saturday. It was a slow start for the Thunder as they didn’t get their first shot on goal until the 7:32 mark. Despite the slow start, Adirondack got on the board first as Dylan Wendt fed Brannon McManus for 24th of the season at 12:36. The Thunder, despite the slow start, would outshoot the Royals 9-6 in the opening 20 minutes.

“You always feel good when you score in the first period”

Brannon McManus on his two-goal night

In the second period, the Royals would use the momentum from a PP that carried into the second period to tie the game at two. Liam Devlin would fire a shot on Tyler Brennan, who made the save, but the rebound popped out to Jacob Frasca, who netted his 10th of the season less than two minutes into the middle frame. That goal would end up being the last five-on-five goal of Saturday’s game. Adirondack got the lead back 10 minutes later as Kevin O’Neil fed Matt Salhany for his 15th of the season. At the 16:58 mark, Tanner Edwards would throw a big hit on Reading’s Kyle Haskins, which would send Edwards to the showers early and give the Royals a 5-minute power play. Connor Kurth found the back of the net for his 12th of the season as we’d have a tie game after 40. Owen McLaughlin picked up his first career point as he got the primary assist on the Kurth goal.

“Ya, that’s so important. Special teams for awhile we were struggling and that’s the games we were losing, it’s so huge and especially down the stretch and in playoffs to get goals on your special teams”

Matt Salhany on Adirondack scoring three PP goals on Saturday Night

In the third, the back and forth would continue as Patrick Grasso fired a back-hander through the legs of Yaniv Perets to give Adirondack the lead at 6:07. Adirondack would look to hold on to that lead as they searched for their first regulation win since February 22nd. It would be Patrick Grasso who went off for hooking at 14:25 that gave Reading another chance on the PP. Kyle Haskins took a shot that barely snuck by Brennan and tied the game at 15:46, sending the game to OT.

“I think we’re addicted to it”

Brannon McManus when talking about the team playing 20 OT games this season so far

For Adirondack, it would be their league-leading 20th OT game of the season. Victor Hadfield took a double-minor for hooking at 1:45 of OT, opening the doors for the Thunder. Brannon McManus would be the OT hero once again, netting his second of the night and 25th of the season to send the soldout crowd at Harding Mazzotti Arena home happy. It would be just the second time all season that Adirondack had three PP goals in a game. The first time came back on December 21st vs Norfolk.