Flath's Two Not Enough in 5-2 Loss to Allen

Wichita, KS (April 11th) - Wichita (32-31-2-7) finished off its inaugural season in the ECHL on a sour note, losing 5-2 to Allen (48-14-6-4) on Saturday night at INTRUST Bank Arena. The Americans scored three times on the man advantage and outscored the Thunder 3-1 in the third period to claim the win. Wichita finishes 8-8-0-1 in the season-series against Allen and 18-24-4 all-time.

RG Flath paced the Thunder with a pair of goals while Danick Gauthier, Eric Meland, Kirill Tulupov and Todd Hosmer all recorded assists in the losing effort.

Allen jumped out to an early lead, getting a goal 1:51 in from Trevor Ludwig with assists to Chad Costello and Greger Hanson. His seventh goal of the season turned out to be the only even strength marker scored all night. At 16:28, Wichita tied it with a power play tally from Flath. Gauthier got the puck back at the blue line and his shot tipped off of Flath's skate as he was jumping in the air that caused enough of a distraction to get through Riley Gill.

In the second, Chris Crane found the back of the net at 12:48 with a power play goal and his first of two on the night. It was the only goal scored in the second, which was filled with a lot of odd man chances for Allen. The Thunder were outshot 8-1 at one point in the frame and finished with four shots as the contest moved into the third.

Greger Hanson pushed the lead to two with a shorthanded breakaway goal 36 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1. At 11:38, Flath put home a turnaround shot from the left wing circle that got through Gill to cut the lead to one. Allen responded quickly, scoring the next two on the man advantage. Konrad Abeltshauser blasted a shot through a screen that beat Grant Rollheiser to make it 4-2. Crane put the exclamation point on the win with his second of the evening at 17:05, again on the power play. Costello and Gens assisted on both goals down the stretch and finished with three assists a-piece.

Flath collected his 88th and 89th goals in a Thunder uniform, which is good for seventh place all-time in that category, ninth place on the all-time points list (179) and sixth in all-time games played (235). Gauthier closes the season with his 40th assist and reaches 70 points for the first time in his career. Rollheiser suffers the loss, stopping 29 of 34 shots. Gill earns his 33rd win in his 50th appearance of the season, stopping 22 of 24 shots he faced.

Wichita was 2-for-4 on the man advantage. Allen went 3-for-9 on the power play.

Season tickets are on sale now. Don't delay! Call the Wichita Thunder office and visit with a season ticket rep today to learn more. Stay up-to-date on all the news during the off-season by visiting www.wichitathunder.com.

About the ECHL

The ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 28 teams in 20 states and one Canadian province for its 27th season in 2014-15. There have been 541 players who have started their career in the ECHL have gone on to play in the National Hockey League, including 29 who made their NHL debuts in the 2013-14 season. The ECHL had affiliations with 26 of the 30 NHL teams in 2013-14, marking the 17th consecutive season that the league had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

-Thunder-