The Norfolk Admirals began a five-game homestand Friday night with the kind of game Brandon Osmundson might have dreamed about as a kid.
The Chesapeake native scored twice and was named the night’s No. 1 star as Norfolk handled the Adirondack Thunder 4-1 at Scope. The ECHL teams will play each other twice more this weekend, starting with Saturday’s 7:05 p.m. game — when the Admirals will wear pink sweaters in support of the fight against breast cancer.
Goalie Isaac Poulter made 21 saves for the victory in his fourth start of the season.
Just 6:06 into the game, Osmundson — a product of the Hampton Roads Whalers’ junior program and the most prominent local native to play for the Admirals (3-2-2-0) in their history that dates to the late 1980s — scored on a rebound from David Jankowski’s shot.At 15:18 of the first period, rookie forward Kristóf Papp — a Hungarian and former Michigan State player — redirected the puck for his first pro goal and a 2-0 lead.
In the second period, the Thunder’s Matt Salhany netted a wrist shot at 6:55 to trim the lead to 2-1. But just 19 seconds later, Osmundson scored for a 3-1 lead, and with time expiring on Adirondack (3-2-0-1), Jayden Dureau scored into an empty net with 31 seconds remaining for the third period’s only goal.
The game was the Admirals’ first since their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, assigned forward Kevin Conley, 28, and defenseman Dawson Barteaux, 25, to them. Between them, they have played in 275 AHL games, and they each got ice time Friday.
After Saturday’s game, the teams will close the series with a 3:05 p.m. game Sunday.
