Marek, Stinil Lead Thunder Past Mavericks, 5-3
INDEPENDENCE, MO – They say that all good things come to those who wait and that proved to be the case for the Wichita Thunder on Saturday, as they defeated the Kansas City Mavericks, 5-3. The victory snapped a 10-game road losing streak for Wichita. Michal Stinil and Bradley Marek each had two goals for the Thunder and Brayden Watts and Jay Dickman each had three assists.
Things did not get off on the right foot, as the Mavericks came out of the first period leading by a goal. Patrick Curry put Kansas City on top 11:35 into the contest. With Wichita on a delayed penalty, the Mavericks had the extra attacker on the ice. That set up Max Andreev passing the puck to Curry, who had gotten behind the Wichita defense. He then put a backhander by Beck Warm for his 16th goal of the season.
The Thunder tied the score with 2:12 left in the first when Jeremy Masella scored his fifth goal of the year. Watts passed the puck to Masella at the left faceoff circle, who lifted a wrist shot past Jack LaFontaine to knot the game at one.
The game did not remain tied for long, however, as Jeremy McKenna put the Mavericks back on top just 24 seconds later. McKenna blasted a shot that found its way through traffic and past Warm for his 12th goal of the season.
The Thunder were down, but they refused to go away, responding with three unanswered goals to take the lead. The first came right at the five-minute mark of the second when Marek scored his first goal of the night. Watts and Dickman were battling with two Kansas City players behind the Mavericks net. Dickman was eventually able to knock it toward Watts, who made a quick centering pass in front to Marek. He redirected the puck by LaFontaine for his fifth of the season.
A little over eight minutes later, Stinil scored his first goal of the night to put Wichita on top. This time it was Mitchell Russell winning a battle for the puck behind the net. He tried to go in front, but the puck hit off LaFontaine’s leg and right to Stinil. Stinil had a wide open net and easily put the puck in for his 18th of the season.
The Thunder continued to pour it on, extending the lead to two 55 seconds into the third. With the Thunder on the power-play, Russell passed the puck to Stinil, who blasted a one-timer by the Mavericks goaltender to make it 4-2.
Kansas City was dazed but showed why they are the top team in the conference, as Jacob Hayhurst scored his 20th goal of the season 2:34 into the third. Andreev gained control of the puck inside the Wichita zone, then waited for Hayhurst to clear himself from the Thunder defenseman and find an open space in the slot. Andreev put the puck right on the tape, allowing Hayhurst to lift a shot by Warm to make it 4-3.
The Mavericks were right back in the game, pulling their goaltender to try to find the equalizer. However, Marek scored an empty net goal with 26 seconds left to seal the win.
Warm stopped 21 shots to earn the victory. He is now 7-11-1 with a 4.26 goals against average.
The Wichita Thunder (15-26-7) close out the weekend against the Tulsa Oilers (23-20-5) back in Wichita on Sunday. The puck drops at 4:05.
By Robert Pannier