Quick start helps host Gamblers top Thunder

Posted on January 6, 2017

By WJBC staff

GREEN BAY, Wis. – August von Ungern-Sternberg and Mitchell Mattson both netted their fifth goals of the season, but the Bloomington Thunder’s comeback bid fell short in a 4-2 loss Thursday to the Green Bay Gamblers at the Resch Center.

Green Bay (17-12-1-1, 36 points) scored three times in the first period and held off the Thunder (13-11-3-0, 29 points) the rest of the way to halt Bloomington’s three-game winning streak.

The Gamblers opened the scoring at the 7:57 mark of the first period, but Bloomington fought back to tie the score a little more than three minutes later.

After missing the last three games with an injury, von Ungern-Sternberg didn’t miss a beat as he registered his fifth goal of the season with 8:43 left in the opening frame to knot the score at one. The Eagle, Idaho, native collected a loose puck along the left goal line and fired a wrist shot from a sharp angle to beat Green Bay goaltender Maksim Zhukov.

But the Gamblers came up with an important and immediate response to take the lead for good. Dante Palecco rifled a shot past Thunder netminder Logan Halladay just 13 seconds after Bloomington had tied the game. Green Bay then padded its lead with Michael Bevilacqua’s short-handed tally with less than five minutes remaining in the opening period.

Looking for their second straight come-from-behind win, the Thunder struck on the power play at the halfway point of the second period to draw within one. Calgary Flames draft pick Mitchell Mattson ripped a wrister past Zhukov from the right circle for his first goal in 10 games. Despite the goal-scoring drought, Mattson has now registered points in three of his last four contests.

With the power-play goal from Mattson, Bloomington has now scored on the man advantage in each of its last two games, coming on the heels of a five-game stretch without a power-play goal.

Bloomington came out energized in the third period and outshot the Gamblers 9-4 in the period, but Green Bay thwarted the Thunder’s comeback attempt with a short-handed tally with 6:09 left in the game.

Gabe Mollot-Hill was strong in goal in relief of Halladay, stopping 16 of the 17 shots he faced to keep the Thunder right with the Gamblers.

Bloomington returns home this weekend for a pair of games against Dubuque on Friday night and Sioux Falls on Saturday night.

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