Thunder Downed in Charleston Again, 5-1

CHARLESTON, SC – The Wichita Thunder are finding their trip to the Southeast to be a nightmare, falling on Saturday evening to the Stingrays, 5-1. This comes a night after the Thunder fell to South Carolina, 7-1. Garin Bjorklund made 22 saves and both Austin Magera and Tyson Empey netted two goals. Michal Stinil scored the only goal for the Thunder.
As they had the previous evening, the Stingray scored the only goal of the first period. This time it came 3:50 into the contest when Magera netted his 16th goal of the season and first of the night. Magera had the puck along the half boards, taking a shot that somehow found its way over the shoulder of Trevor Gorsuch to make it 1-0.
Despite giving up the goal, Gorsuch was very sharp in the first, stopping 13 shots. In the second, however, the wheels came off as the Stingrays came away from the frame up by three.
Kevin O’Neil extended the South Carolina lead to two at 7:03. O’Neil led a rush into the Wichita end, lifting a shot that beat Gorsuch for his 10th goal of the season.
The Thunder had been silenced by Bjorklund through the first 35 minutes, but Stinil scored his 17th goal of the season at the 15:38 mark to cut the deficit in half. South Carolina was trying to clear the puck out of their zone, but Roman Kinal was able to shut down a clearing attempt, gaining control the puck before finding Stinil at the right circle. He blasted a one-timer past the Stingrays netminder to make it 2-1. The goal was the sixth in the last five games for Stinil.
Wichita was back in the contest, but not for long, as South Carolina scored two goals in the final 1:48 of the second period to blow this game open. The first came with the Stingrays on the power-play when Empey netted his first goal of the night and 12th of the season. South Carolina was doing a great job of maintaining control of the puck inside the Wichita zone. O’Neil took a shot that Empey deflected past Gorsuch to make it 3-1.
With 24 seconds left in the period, Magera scored his second goal of the night. Jonny Evans intercepted a clearing attempt inside the Wichita zone, quickly dishing it to Magera. He beat the Thunder netminder with a wrist shot to make it 4-1.
Empey sealed the victory with his second power-play goal of the night 12:14 into the third. This time it was Bryce Montgomery passing the puck to Empey, who beat Gorsuch with a one-timer.
The loss dropped the Thunder to 12-22-5, last place in the Mountain Division. Wichita closes out the three-game set with the Stingrays (23-14-2) on Sunday. The puck drops at 2:05 Wichita time.
by Robert Pannier