A night after coming up with the three-points to lead the Toledo Walleye to a 4-2 victory over the Wichita Thunder, Tyson Spink proved to be the bad guest again, this time scoring his 25th goal of the season with 13 minutes left to send the Walleye to a 3-2 win. The loss was the 12th straight by the Thunder.

For the first time in this five-game homestand, the Thunder scored first. That came at the 6:12 mark when David Friedmann skated with the puck along the boards. He passed to Louick Marcotte at the face-off circle, who fired a wrist shot that beat Jake Patterson for his 10th goal of the season.

The score remained that way until there was just a little less than three-minutes left in the period, when the Toledo Walleye would tie the score. Mike Borkowski carried the puck behind the net and passed across the crease to Tylor Spink, who redirected it into the net for his 19th goal of the season.

In the first period, the Walleye outshot Wichita 13-9, and they would dominate the second period, outshooting the Thunder 14-4 and would take the lead. At 14:46, Borkowski carried the puck into the Wichita end on a 2-on-1 break. The Thunder defender slid looking to break up any pass, but Borkowski waited patiently and then beat Wichita goalie Matt O’Connor with a wrist shot to make it 2-1 Toledo.

Into the third period the game would go and the Thunder would tie it up a little over a minute into the period. With the faceoff in the Walleye end, Blake Tatchell won the draw back to defenseman Macoy Erkamps. Erkamps faked a slap shot and slid to the center, then fired a shot that beat Patterson to tie the game. It was Erkamps fourth goal of the season.

The game would not stay tied for long as Tyson Spink would give his team back the lead at the 7:05 mark. Nolan Zajac passed to Spink near the net. He made a move to rush toward the center and then back-handed the puck in for his 25th goal of the year. That made it 3-2.

The Thunder pulled their goalie with a little over a minute left in the game, but could not get the equalizer, dropping the one-goal game. That was the 12th straight loss by the Thunder.

Blake Tatchell finished with 2-assists for the Thunder. Tyson Spink scored a goal and an assist for the Toledo Walleye, as did Mike Borkowski. Jake Patterson saved 17 of 19 shots for the victory. Matt O’Connor made 32 saves for Wichita.

The Thunder will now head to the road for a five-game trip. That begins tomorrow night in Tulsa at 4:05.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier