First Period Surges Thunder Past Mallards

Wichita, KS (Nov. 25th) - Wichita scored three goals in the opening period and skated past Quad City by the final of 4-2 on Saturday night at INTRUST Bank Arena.

Travis Brown scored twice and Travis Ewanyk had a goal and an assist for the Thunder. Shane Starrett grabbed his seventh win of the season, stopping 25 shots.

The Thunder have been outstanding in the first period this season and that continued, adding three more tonight. Ewanyk got things started at 12:21 with a sharp angle shot that he squeezed in over the shoulder of Ivan Kulbakov. He was almost on the goal line when he fired a wrist shot and registered his seventh of the year. Brown scored the next two to extend the lead to 3-0. His first came at 16:09 as he skated up into the play and put home a shot from the left circle to make it 2-0. His second came at 19:28, blasting a rocket from the blue line past Kulbakov on the power play for his fourth of the year.

Quad City got on the board in the second during a two-man advantage. Sam Warning beat Starrett from the right face-off dot at 2:38 to make it 3-1. Etienne Boutet re-gained a three-goal advantage for the Thunder at 11:06 with a pass from Dyson Stevenson. Matt Pohlkamp cut back into the lead with 46 seconds left in the frame.

Both teams missed chances in the third period and were even in the shot department with seven shots. Kulbakov was pulled with just over a minute left, but the Thunder held on and grabbed the victory.

Wichita improves to 7-2-1-0 at home and 2-0 against the Mallards in the season-series. The Thunder have outscored their opponents 24-10 in the first period this season. Brown netted his first two-goal performance of the season. Sam Thibault has three assists in his last two games. Stevenson has points in three-straight (1g, 2a). Wichita went 1-for-3 on the power play. Quad City went was 1-for-6 on the man advantage.

The Thunder finishes a three-in-three tomorrow afternoon against the Kalamazoo Wings starting at 4:05 p.m.

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