Allen, TX (March 17th) - In their first meeting since late January, Allen held off a comeback bid from Wichita and skated away with a 5-3 win on St. Patrick's Day at the Allen Event Center. The Thunder cut the lead to one with 11 minutes to go, but the Americans scored twice in less than two minutes to pull away with the victory.
Vincent Dunn finished the game with two points to lead the Thunder in scoring.
The Americans scored twice in the first period. Travis Brown caught a pass in the slot from Chad Costello and fired a shot past Drew Owsley to make it 1-0. With two minutes left in the frame, Derek Mathers increased the lead to 2-0 as he re-directed a shot from in-close.
Joel Chouinard scored six seconds into the second to give Allen a 3-0 lead. Gary Steffes pushed the puck forward right off the draw, allowing David Makowski to get to it and dished off to Chouinard who beat Owsley.
Louick Marcotte got the Thunder back in the game early in the third period. He caught a pass from Dunn in the slot and beat Riley Gill to make it 3-1. At 8:04, Brandon Carlson recorded his third of the year as he fired a shot through traffic from the left circle and made it 3-2. Wade MacLeod and Greger Hanson scored back-to-back goals to extend the Allen lead to 5-2. Dunn added his fourth of the year with 16 seconds to go and made it 5-3.
Wichita is now 6-5-1 all-time on St. Patrick's Day. Dunn has goals in back-to-back games. Ben Duffy collected an assist in his first game of the season. Marcotte tallied his 13th of the year to pull into a tie for the team-lead in goals. Owsley took the loss, stopping 21 of 26 shots. Gill earned the victory, stopping 37 of 40 shots he faced.
Wichita went 0-for-5 on the power play. Allen was 2-for-3 on the man advantage.
The Thunder finishes their five-game road trip tomorrow in Allen starting Friday at 7:05 p.m.
Individual tickets for all Thunder home games are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased at the INTRUST Arena Box office, by calling 855-755-SEAT or go online at www.selectaseat.com.
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