Photo Credit: Super Ed Bailey/Wichita ThunderWICHITA, KS – The Wichita Thunder returned to the Air Capital Wednesday and made it a triumphant return, snapping a six-game winless skid with a 5-2 victory over the Utah Grizzlies. Five different players scored goals for the Thunder and Braden Hache had two assists. Aaron Dell was impressive, stopping 26 shots.

The Thunder took the lead 8:16 into the contest when Ryan Finnegan scored his first goal of the year. Carter Jones passed the puck to Finnegan near the blue line, who blasted a shot that went over the shoulder of Adam Scheel, off the crossbar, and in to make it 1-0.

Exactly nine minutes later, Joe Carroll extended the lead to two. Luke Grainger made a great move to get out of a check along the right boards, then he moved in on the net. As he approached the goal, Grainger saw Carroll just inside the opposite faceoff circle. Grainger passed the puck, and Carroll slammed home the shot for his third goal of the year.

Wichita came out of the first dominating play, outshooting Utah 16-5 and holding a two-goal edge, but things changed quickly in the second as the Grizzlies scored two goals in the span of 2:53. The first came at 3:37 when Mick Messner scored his fifth goal of the year. With the Grizzlies on the power-play, Derek Daschke passed the puck to Messner in the high slot, who lifted a wrist shot past Dell.

At 5:30, Utah tied the score. Briley Wood moved the puck back to the point to Dashke, who fired a wrist shot that found its way through a lot of bodies and in for his third goal of the season.

The Grizzlies were tied with the Thunder, but Wichita took the lead for good at 6:03 on the sixth goal of the season by Kobe Walker. Hache moved the puck down the boards and into the corner to Michal Stinil. He fired a quick pass into the slot to Walker, who buried the shot to make it 3-2.

At the 11-minute mark, Jay Dickman made it 4-2 with his eighth goal of the year. Hache set up the play when he created a turnover at the Thunder blueline. He then passed the puck ahead to Nolan Burke, who then found Dickman, who sent a blistering shot that beat Scheel to the far post.

With a little over four minutes left in the game, T.J. Lloyd sealed the victory with his first goal of the season. Lloyd gained control of the puck in the neutral zone, carried it into the Grizzlies zone, then beat the Utah netminder with a blast from the left faceoff circle for the first goal of his professional career.

The Thunder outshot Utah, 39-28. Dell moved to 3-3-1 with the win.

The Wichita Thunder (7-7-1) will take on the Utah Grizzlies (5-5-1) again on Thursday. The puck drops at 7:05.

Gamesheet

By Robert Pannier