Game Day Capsule: Tulsa at Wichita, April 8th

Wichita, KS (April 4th) - Wichita begins an important stretch of games against Tulsa that will ultimately decide the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division. Get ready for tonight's game below:

TONIGHT'S MATCH-UPTulsa at Wichita - 7:05 p.m., INTRUST Bank Arena, Wichita, KS WICHITAHOME: 16-14-0-3AWAY: 16-15-2-3OVERALL: 32-29-2-6 LEADING SCORERSGauthier, 68 pts (30g, 38a)Lowe, 57 pts (19g, 38a)Wilson, 48 pts (12g, 36a) TULSAHOME: 18-16-1-1AWAY: 17-13-1-2OVERALL: 35-29-2-3 LEADING SCORERSFisher, 74 pts (18g, 56a)Pleskach, 67 pts (38g, 29a)Booras, 63 pts (25g, 38a) SEASON-SERIESOct. 26 BOK 6-5, L (OT)Oct. 29 INTRUST 2-0, WNov. 2 BOK 3-2, L (SO)Nov. 18 BOK 4-3, L (SO)Nov. 23 BOK 3-2, LNov. 30 INTRUST 3-2, L (SO)Dec. 10 BOK 7-4, LDec. 17 BOK 2-1, WFeb. 21 INTRUST 7-4, LMar. 13 BOK 4-1, LMar. 21 INTRUST 4-1, LMar. 29 INTRUST 5-1, LApril 8 INTRUST 7:05 p.m.April 10 INTRUST 7:05 p.m.

**Wichita is 2-6-1-3 vs. Tulsa

HEAD TO HEAD - This is the 13th meeting of the season between the Thunder and the Oilers in the StoneWolf Casino Cup Series. All-time, Wichita is 131-109-22 against Tulsa and 73-48-11 at INTRUST Bank Arena.

TODAY - Wichita continues its six-game homestand tonight against the Tulsa Oilers. The longtime rivals will play for the 263rd time in the StoneWolf Casino Cup Series. The Thunder are three points back of the Oilers for the fourth and final playoff spot with back-to-back games against each other this week. Wichita has won two in a row after suffering a six-game setback while Tulsa split last weekend with the Missouri Mavericks. The Thunder are looking to break a four-game losing streak against the Oilers with the last two meetings taking place in the Air Capital. Adam Pleskach leads the Oilers with eight goals against the Thunder. Todd Hosmer leads Wichita with four goals against Tulsa this season.

APRIL SHOWERS - Tonight, Wichita will host its third game in franchise history in the month of April. Before this season, the Thunder had played in just three games in April and all three were on the road at Memphis. During the 1999-00 campaign, Wichita won on Saturday April 1st 5-1 against the RiverKings and lost the next day, 5-0. The next season, the Thunder played at Memphis on Sunday, April 1st and lost by the final of 4-1. Wichita is 2-0 all-time at home during the month, with both wins coming this season.

REGULATION - Four of the first six games between the two teams headed past 60 minutes, but the last five games have been decided in the allotted time. After Friday, Wichita hosts Allen in the season finale while the Oilers will hop on a bus and head to Quad City on Saturday night.

600 CLUB - Jon Booras will appear in his 600th career game tonight. The Billings, Montana native played last season for the Thunder before heading to Tulsa this year. In 61 games last season, Booras tallied 64 points (17g, 47a) which was good for the team lead in that category. Through 599 games, he has amassed 593 points (229g, 364a). He has had plenty of success against his former team this year, scoring 13 points (6g, 7a) in 11 games against Wichita.

SPECIAL TEAMS BATTLE - Over the last four games in the season-series, Wichita has struggled on the power play against the Oilers. Since February 21st, the Thunder have gone 3-for-23 on the man advantage, good for a 13% clip. The Oilers have struggled as well, going 2-for-16 on the power play, which is good for 12.5%. Overall, Wichita is 10-for-60 (16.6%) against Tulsa this season and 5-for-26 (19.2%) at home. The Thunder penalty kill has been solid going 45-for-52 (86.5%) against the Oilers and 15-for-17 at home (88.2%).

THUNDERBOLTS… Danick Gauthier is in 14th place in goals (30)...Ian Lowe is tied for sixth in power play goals (10) while Gauthier is tied for second (12)...Lowe is in 11th place for shots on goal (223) while Gauthier is in sixth (235)…Mike Wilson is tied for third in scoring by a d-man (46) and tied for third in power play assists (18) while Gauthier is tied for 18th (14)…Justin Bernhardt is fifth in the league in shooting percentage (25.4%, 15/59)…Tim Boron is seventh in the league in minutes played (2,504), 17th in saves (993), 13th in wins (20)…Grant Rollheiser is tied for eighth in shutouts (3) and 12th in saves (1,060)…Wichita is 13-2-0-1 when leading after one...Wichita is 19-2-0-2 when leading after two…

TULSA NOTES - Tulsa lost in their final home game of the season this past Saturday to Missouri, 5-3…Tulsa is looking to make the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2000-01 and 2001-02…Friday night's crowd at the BOK Center (12,784) is the second-largest crowd in the ECHL this season…Kevin Noble received is first call-up to the AHL, signing a PTO with Oklahoma City on Tuesday…Rookie Phil Brewer recorded his first multi-point game on Friday…Jeff Jubinville is tied for the rookie goal-scoring lead (30) and third in points with 60…

AROUND THE ECHL - There are six other games today in the ECHL. Evansville heads to Gwinnett. Kalamazoo plays at Indy. Cincinnati plays at Fort Wayne. Wheeling goes to Reading. Utah travels to Idaho. Ontario goes north to Alaska.

UP NEXT - Wichita hosts Tulsa in the series-finale on Friday at 7:05 p.m.

Individual tickets are on sale now. Don't delay! Tickets can be purchased at the INTRUST Arena Box office, by calling 755-SEAT or go online at www.selectaseat.com. Stay up-to-date on all the news during the 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-