INDEPENDENCE, MO – The Kansas City Mavericks earned a hard fought 5-4 shootout victory over the Wichita Thunder on Friday evening, but the Thunder still earned a point, extending the team point streak to six straight games (5-0-1). That has the club just three points behind the Utah Grizzlies and Allen Americans for the final playoff spot in the Mountain Division. Four different players scored goals and Michal Stinil had two assists for the Thunder.

The contest got off to a great start for the Mavericks, as Cade Borchardt scored his 14th goal of the season 1:33 into the contest. Nolan Walker set up the play, making a perfect pass to Borchardt at the corner of the net. He quickly corralled the puck, then lifted a wrist shot by Trevor Gorsuch to make it 1-0.

Wichita was down, but rallied for three unanswered goals to hold a two goal advantage about halfway through the contest. The first goal came at 7:30 when Kobe Walker netted his fourth goal of the year. Brayden Watts took a shot that Cale Morris saved, but Walker knocked in the rebound to make it 1-1.

Just after the 10 minute mark, Mitchell Russell scored his fifth goal of the year to put the Thunder on top. Kansas City was trying to clear the puck out of their own end, but Quinn Preston was able to knock down a clearing attempt. He moved down toward the end line, then made a pass in front that hit off of the stick of Stinil and right to Russell, who blasted a shot by Morris to make it 2-1.

The one goal advantage carried to the first intermission, and Jay Dickman extended the lead to two when he scored his 23rd goal on the power-play at 8:48 of the second. Stinil passed the puck to Dickman who blew a one-timer by the Mavericks netminder.

Wichita had scored three unanswered goals, but it was Kansas City’s turn to return the favor, starting with Walker netting his second goal of the game just 42 seconds after Dickman scored. A bad turnover gave the Mavericks the puck in the neutral zone. Borchardt fed the puck to Patrick Curry who made a quick pass across the slot to Walker. He blasted a one-timer by Gorsuch to cut the deficit to one.

The Thunder clung to the one goal advantage into the second intermission, but Borchardt tied the score at 5:43 of the third. This time Wichita turned the puck over in their own end, allowing Walker to find Borchardt, who beat the Wichita netminder to knot the game at three.

Exactly 5 minutes later, David Cotton put the Mavericks on top again. Jacob Hayhurst passed the puck into the high slot to Cotton, who blew a one-timer by Gorsuch for his 11th of the year.

The Thunder were down once again, but Jake Wahlin forced overtime when he netted his seventh goal of the season with just under two minutes left in the contest. The play was set up by Jason Pineo, who carried the puck down the boards through the neutral zone and into the Kansas City end. Pineo passed the puck to Dillon Boucher, who made a great feed across the slot to the opposite circle where Wahlin blasted a shot over the shoulder of Morris to make it 4-4.

That sent the game to overtime, where neither team was able to find the game-winner. Through the first two rounds of the shootout, neither team scored, but Max Andreev scored on the third attempt for the Mavericks to give them the victory.

Gorsuch stopped 23 shots in the loss. The goal by Dickman extended his point streak to seven straight games.

They Wichita Thunder (19-26-8) head home to welcome the Allen Americans (23-25-3) on Saturday. The puck drops at 7:05.

Gamesheet

by Robert Pannier