Early Deficit Too Much for Thunder to Overcome, 5-2
WICHITA, KS – The Kansas City Mavericks open with four unanswered goals to defeat the Wichita Thunder, 5-2. Patrick Curry scored twice for Kansas City and Nolan Walker had three points. Nolan Kneen and Shane Kuzmeski scored for Wichita.
Walker opened the scoring 12:36 in the contest. The Thunder were on a delayed penalty, allowing the Mavericks to get the extra attacker onto the ice. Tucker Robertson moved the puck to Walker at the left face-off circle, who beat Trevor Gorsuch for his 24th goal of the season.
At 9:28 of the second, Jeremy McKenna extended the lead to two. Kyle Jackson stole the puck at the Wichita blueline, feeding it across the slot to McKenna. He directed a shot past Gorsuch for his 11th goal of the season.
At 15:44, Kansas City extended the lead to three on a clearly controversial goal. During a scramble in front of the Thunder net, Gorsuch lost his helmet, but the referee did not blow the whistle. That allowed Curry to drill a one-timer in for his first goal of the night.
The three-goal advantage held until 9:05 of the third when Curry scored his 25th of the season and second of the night. Cade Borchardt was battling for the puck along the half boards inside the Thunder zone, coming away with the puck. He dished it to Curry on the opposite side of the slot, who beat the Wichita netminder to make it 4-0.
The Thunder were being blown out, but responded with two goals to cut the deficit to two. Just after the 14-minute mark, Kneen scored a highlight reel goal. The puck was passed to him by Jay Dickman in the high slot. He made his way through two Kansas City defensemen, then lifted a shot past Cale Morris for his third goal of the year.
A little under two minutes later, Kuzmeski scored to make it 4-2. Jake Wahlin passed the puck to Kuzmeski in the slot, who blasted a shot by Morris for his second of the year.
Wichita was back in the game, but Max Andreev delivered an empty net goal with 2:08 left in the contest to seal the victory. It was his 12th goal of the year.
The loss was the second in a row for Wichita (14-26-7) and their sixth in eight games this month. The Thunder travel to Independence to take on Kansas City (36-8-3) on Saturday. The puck drops at 6:05.
by Robert Pannier
