Wichita, KS (March 6th) - Wichita hits the road for the next seven games starting tonight north of the border in Brampton, Ontario. Get ready for the game with this edition of Game Day Capsule below:
TONIGHT'S MATCH-UPWichita at Brampton - 7:30 p.m. EST, Powerade Centre
WICHITAHOME: 14-10-0-3AWAY: 12-11-2-2OVERALL: 26-21-2-5
LEADING SCORERSLowe, 51 pts (17g, 34a)Gauthier, 51 pts (23g, 28a)Miller, 40 pts (15g, 25a)
BRAMPTONHOME: 8-16-0-0AWAY: 10-17-2-0OVERALL: 18-33-2-0
LEADING SCORERSPainchaud, 52 pts (26g, 28a)Pitton, 36 pts (20g, 16a)J. Donati, 28 pts (9g, 19a)
SEASON-SERIESDec. 5 Powerade 4-1, LDec. 6 Powerade 3-1, WFeb. 27 INTRUST 4-1, WMarch 6 Powerade 6:30 p.m.March 8 Powerade 1:00 p.m.March 9 Powerade 6:00 p.m.
** Wichita is 2-1-0-0 vs. Brampton
HEAD-TO-HEAD - This is the fourth of seven meetings between the Thunder and the Beast. All-time, Wichita is 5-4-0 against Brampton and 3-2-0 at the Powerade Centre.
TODAY - Wichita starts a seven-game road trip tonight in Brampton, Ontario against the Beast. Tonight is the first of three-straight at the Powerade Centre and Wichita's last trip of the year north of the border.The two teams met on February 27th with the Thunder claiming a 4-1 win at home. Brampton hasn't played since last Saturday after taking an overtime victory in Allen. Wichita will face the Beast four of the last six contests that ends on Monday evening. Former Thunder forward Chad Painchaud leads the Beat with four points (2g, 2a) against his former team. Danick Gauthier, who is coming off a two-goal performance on Wednesday, leads the with four goals against Brampton while Ian Duval has a goal and an assist.
OT WINNER - Wichita trailed the whole game after giving up a pair of power play goals to the Rush in the first period. The Thunder clawed back into it when RG Flath caught a centering pass from Mike Wilson, which breathed new life into the building. Danick Gauthier tied it with a wrist shot from the corner boards that re-directed off of a defenseman's skate and through John Griggs. He recorded the game-winner on the power play in OT, completing an unbelievable comeback on Wednesday. Wichita is now 4-2 in games decided in the overtime period.
MILESTONE - Mike Wilson collected an assist on Wednesday, putting him one point shy of reaching the 200-point plateau. He recently just recorded his 100th ECHL point. RG Flath picked up his 83rd goal in a Thunder uniform, just two shy of Jim McGeough for an eighth-place tie all-time.
PLAYMAKING - Danick Gauthier picked up his 16th multi-point game of the season last night and his third game with at least two goals or more. He has the last two overtime winners for the Thunder and moved into a second place tie with Ian Lowe in power play goals (9) and extended his point-streak to eight games (6g, 8a).Nikita Kashirsky has points in six straight (4g, 3a).
WELCOME BACK - Wichita made a trade on Wednesday afternoon, acquiring the rights to Grant Rollheiser from Brampton for future considerations. The Chilliwack, BC native returns to the Air Capital after playing in seven games for the Thunder during the 2012-13 season. He has appeared in 31 games this season for the Beast, sporting a solid .902 save percentage to go along with a record of 8-17-0-0 and 3.58 GAA.
THUNDERBOLTS… Lowe is in ninth place for shots on goal (178) while Danick Gauthier is in 15th (172)…Lowe is tied for 13th place in assists (34)…Wichita is third in the ECHL in penalty minutes (1,200) and is averaging 22.22 per game…Tyler Bunz and Tim Boron are tied for 11th in shutouts (2)…Tim Boron is fourth in the league in minutes played (2,143), sixth in saves (882), tied for sixth in wins (20)…Wichita is 13th in shots for per game (31.43) and fourth in shots against per game (27.59)…Wichita is 9-2-0-1 when leading after one...Wichita is 13-10-0-0 when tied after one…Wichita is 14-5-2-5 in one-goal games…
BRAMPTON NOTES - Chad Painchaud was named the ECHL's Player of the month for February, recording four hat tricks, 17 goals and 20 points in just 11 games in February...David Ling has seven assists in his last five games...Justin Donati has 11 points in his last five games...Painchaud, Donati and Ling accounted for 53 points in February...Trevor Cann is fourth in the league in saves (1,045)...
AROUND THE ECHL - There are 10 other games in the ECHL tonight. Florida takes on Greenville. Toledo heads to Elmira. Gwinnett plays at South Carolina. Kalamazoo is at Fort Wayne. Rapid City plays at Missouri. Allen goes to Quad City. Indy plays at Evansville. Ontario is in Utah. Bakersfield plays Colorado. Stockton takes on Idaho.
UP NEXT - Wichita remains in Brampton with a Sunday afternoon tilt at 1 p.m. CST.
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-