Thunderbirds Fly Past River Dragons, 3-1

Winston-Salem, NC – The Carolina Thunderbirds took the season series over the Columbus River Dragons with a 3-1 victory on Friday evening at the Fairgrounds Arena in front of 2,850 fans.

In a chippy affair, Carolina (35-9-4) had to wait for the middle 20 minutes to break the deadlock. Jordan Gagnon deflected a pass to Roman Kraemer walking into the attacking zone feeding a cross-ice pass to Petr Panacek who rifled home his first goal since returning from IR four minutes into the 2^nd. Columbus (28-13-4) looked for an answer, but Thunderbirds netminder, Boris Babik, stood tall between the pipes, keeping the 1-0 lead intact going to the 3^rd.

With the Thunderbirds on the penalty kill midway through the final 20 minutes, Justin MacDonald tapped home a backdoor feed from Nolan Slachekta, tying the game at one with 8:50 remaining in regulation. Carolina controlled play coming down the stretch, and after a long spell in the attacking zone, James Farmer let a shot go from the point that Dmitri Selyutin deflected over the glove of Columbus goalie Trevor Babin pushing the Thunderbirds back in front, 2-1, with 3:40 left in the 3^rd. Jiri Pestuka found an empty net goal with 59 seconds remaining and the Thunderbirds took down the River Dragons, 3-1.

Babik saved 39 out of 40 shots on the evening for his 14^th win this season, while Panacek recorded his first multi-point outing since January 3^rd. With the win, the Thunderbirds take the season series over the River Dragons.

The Thunderbirds and River Dragons meet for the final time in the regular season on Saturday night in Winston-Salem. Puck drop is set for 6:05 p.m. from the Fairgrounds Arena.