Game Day Capsule: Wichita at Missouri, January 31st

Wichita, KS (Jan. 31st) - Wichitaheads back on the road tonight to take on the Missouri Mavericks in the Independence Cup Series. Get ready for the game tonight by reading our Game Day Capsule below:

TONIGHT'S MATCH-UPWichita Thunder at Missouri Mavericks - 7:05 p.m., Independence Events Center, Independence, MO

WICHITAHOME: 11-7-0-2AWAY: 9-9-2-2OVERALL: 20-16-2-4

LEADING SCORERSLowe, 39 pts (15g, 24a)Gauthier, 37 pts (17g 20a)Miller, 34 pts (13g, 21a)

MISSOURIHOME: 8-11-0-1AWAY: 8-8-2-1OVERALL: 16-19-2-2

LEADING SCORERSThinel, 32 pts (11g, 21a)Walker, 29 pts (13g, 16a)Brittain, 25 pts (15g, 10a)

SEASON-SERIESNov. 1 INTRUST 4-2, WNov. 9 INTRUST 5-2, LNov. 16 INTRUST 3-1, WNov. 22 INTRUST 6-0, WNov. 28 IEC 4-1, WDec. 30 INTRUST 3-2, W (OT)Dec. 31 IEC 4-3, WJan. 31 IEC 7:05 p.m.

HEAD-TO-HEAD - This is the seventh of 10 meetings this season between the Thunder and the Mavericks. Wichita is 14-9-3 on the road and 33-20-3 all-time.

TODAY - Wichita goes back on the road this evening to take on the Missouri Mavericks. The Thunder returned home last night for the first time since January 11th and lost to Quad City by the final score of 3-1. Missouri was idle last night and has not played since January 24th in a 2-1 victory over the Mallards. After tonight, the two teams only have two games left against each other in the Independence Cup Series. Sebastien Thinel and Lindsay Sparks each have five points against the Thunder this season. Danick Gauthier leads the Thunder with 12 points (4g, 8a) against Missouri while Ian Lowe has 10 points (5g, 5a).

MILLER TIME - Kenton Miller scored the first goal of the game last night, collecting his 13th of the season. He is third on the team in scoring with 34 points and is a +7 in 40 games. His goal pushed his point-streak to five games (3g, 4a) and has three points this week. He will miss tonight's game after being suspended for two games due to an infraction in last night's game that went uncalled.

BACK ON THE ROAD - After returning home last night, Wichita begins a three-game road swing tonight at Missouri. The Thunder head to Quad City for a pair of games next week, which will have been eight of the last nine games that have been played away from home. Wichita's next home game will take place on February 13th against Missouri.

AFTER TWO - The trend continued last night for the Thunder when trailing after two periods. Wichita has only come back from a deficit once when entering the third down to its opponent. The team's record is 1-13-1-2 in that situation. When leading after two, Wichita is 13-0-0-1. Grabbing the lead in the first two periods has been imperative to this point of the season for the Thunder.

STOPPING SEBBY - Sebastien Thinel has a thorn in the side of the Thunder over the last four seasons. In 36 career games in a Mavericks uniform against the Thunder, he has collected 39 points (14g, 25a). Through seven games this season, he has four goals and one assist against Wichita. The Thunder will have to find a way to contain his line tonight to pull out a victory.

AFTER TWO - The trend continued last night for the Thunder when trailing after two periods. Wichita has only come back from a deficit once when entering the third down to its opponent. The team's record is 1-13-1-2 in that situation. When leading after two, Wichita is 13-0-0-1. Grabbing the lead in the first two periods has been imperative to this point of the season for the Thunder.

SPECIAL TEAMS - Head-to-head, Wichita has had the better of it against Missouri this season. The Thunder power play has gone 8-for-31, operating at 25.8% against the Mavericks. Wichita's penalty kill has successfully killed off all 25 chances for Missouri and will look to keep that trend going tonight.

END OF MONTH - Wichita will close out the month of January with just its third trip to the IEC tonight. Oddly enough, Wichita played the first two meetings at the end of November and December, both of which were holidays. The Thunder defeated the Mavericks by the final score of 4-1 on Black Friday and won 4-3 on New Year's Eve. The Thunder need a win to finish above .500 this month, going 5-6-1-0 in January and 3-4-1-0 on the road heading into tonight's game.

THUNDERBOLTS… Danick Gauthier is tied for 18th in goals (17), tied for eighth in power play goals (6) and tied for 15th in power play assists (9)…Jared Walker is tied for fourth in shorthanded goals (2)…Todd Hosmer is 19th in rookie scoring (24) while Ian Duval is tied in 32nd (20)…Kenton Miller is in eighth place for shots on net (138)…Tyler Bunz and Tim Boron are tied for fifth in shutouts (2)…Wichita is 13th in shots for per game (30.86) and third in shots against per game (27.17)…Wichita is 6-2-0-1 when leading after one...Wichita is 11-7-0-0 when tied after one…Wichita is 6-3-1-1 when tied after two periods…Wichita is 13-10-1-2 when outshooting the opponent…

MISSOURI NOTES - After losing seven-straight, Missouri has won their last two contests...Sebastien Thnel has four goals to lead the Mavericks against the Thunder...Mike Clemente is 0-3-0-0 with a GAA of 3.70 and .879 save percentage against the Thunder...Lagace is 0-2-1-0 with a GAA of 4.04 and .845 save percentage against Wichita...David Rutherford was traded to Ontario for Geoff Walker, who has three points (1g, 2a) in two games with the Mavericks...Missouri dealt Dallas Ehrhardt for All-Star defenseman Landon Oslanski, who has played in four games for the Mavericks...

AROUND THE ECHL - There are 10 other games tonight in the ECHL. Greenville takes on Florida. Toledo heads to Fort Wayne. Wheeling goes to Kalamazoo. Reading plays at Cincinnati. Elmira travels to Indy. Brampton takes on Quad City. Gwinnett plays at Evansville. Idaho goes to Ontario. Utah takes on Stockton. Colorado stays north in Alaska.

UP NEXT - Wichita travels to Quad City for a pair of games next weekend, beginning on Friday night at the i-Wireless Center.

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-