TONIGHT'S MATCH-UPWichita Thunder at Quad City Mallards - 7:05 p.m., i-Wireless Center, Moline, IL
WICHITAHOME: 11-7-0-2AWAY: 10-10-2-2OVERALL: 21-17-2-4
LEADING SCORERSLowe, 41 pts (16g, 25a)Miller, 34 pts (13g 21a)Hosmer, 25 pts (15g, 10a)
QUAD CITYHOME: 10-8-2-0AWAY: 11-7-2-2OVERALL: 21-15-4-2
LEADING SCORERSLamoureux, 43 pts (14g, 29a)Fox, 36 pts (15g, 21a)Lee, 24 pts (9g, 15a)
SEASON-SERIESNov. 26 INTRUST 2-0, WDec. 12 INTRUST 3-1, LJan. 3 INTRUST 3-2, WJan. 7 i-Wireless 4-3, L (OT)Jan. 9 i-Wireless 4-1, WJan. 28 i-Wireless 4-2, WJan. 30 INTRUST 3-1, LFeb. 6 i-Wireless 2-1, WFeb. 7 i-Wireless 7:05 p.m.
HEAD-TO-HEAD - This is the ninth of 12 meetings between the Thunder and the Mallards. Wichita is 9-0-4 on the road against Quad City all-time and 18-5-4 overall..
TODAY - Wichita finishes a two-game weekend set tonight against the Quad City Mallards with the winner taking over second place. The Thunder defeated Quad City last night by the final score of 2-1. With the win, Wichita stopped a two-game losing skid while halting the Mallards three-game winning streak. After tonight, the two teams will not see each other until the middle of March. Mario Lamoureux leads the Mallards with nine points (2g, 7a) against Wichita. Ian Lowe leads the way for the Thunder with six points (3g, 3a) against the Flock. Both players have 40+ points and are the only ones on their respective teams past that mark.
RIVALRY CONTINUES - Wichita and Quad City have seen each other eight times this season, five more than a year ago and still have four games left against one another. Last night was the third time in the series that the two have played to a one-goal outcome. Last night's contest was just the second time in the last five games that neither team had more than 20 penalty minutes in the season-series.
END OF THE LINE - Tonight's meeting concludes a busy stretch of games between the Thunder and the Mallards. Wichita will have played Quad City four of the last five contests after this evening. The Thunder will return to the i-Wireless Center on March 14th and then will play a home-and-home series on March 25th and March 27th to close out the regular season-set against each other.
MISSING IN ACTION - Both teams will be without key players tonight. Danick Gauthier and Joe Perry will miss their second-straight games as both are in the American Hockey League on call-ups. Wichita will get the services of Kenton Miller back after missing the last two contests due to a suspension.
FAMILIAR FACE - Wichita acquired forward Anthony Perdicaro yesterday from the Gwinnett Gladiators in exchange for future considerations. Perdicaro will face one of his former teams tonight as he played for the Mallards during the 2012-13 season. In 44 games that year, he had his best season statistically, recording 43 points (16g, 27a) while piling up 103 penalty minutes. Perdicaro is expected to be in the line-up tonight.
POWERING UP - Ian Lowe recorded his 16th goal of the season last night on the power play. Half of Lowe's markers have been on the man advantage and now he is alone in second place in power play goals with eight.
CAREER HIGH - Jared Walker notched his 10th goal of the season, which was the eventual game-winner last night. It was his third game-winner of the year and set a new career-high in goals after scoring nine in his rookie season in Bloomington and nine a year ago with the Thunder.
BETWEEN THE PIPES - Tim Boron stopped 18 of 19 last night against Quad City and is 3-1-1-0 in the season-series. He has a goals against average of 2.19 and a save percentage of .922 in five appearances vs. the Mallards. Tyler Bunz has gone 2-1-0-0 with a goals against average of 1.35 and a save percentage of .944 against the Flock. On the other side, Parker Milner has had better success against the Thunder, going 3-0-0-0 with a goals against average of 1.50 and a save percentage of .952. Evan Mosher was a busy man in net for the Mallards last night, stopping 34 of 36. His record against the Thunder dropped to 0-5-0-0 with a GAA of 2.82 and a save percentage of .907.
SPECIAL TEAMS - Wichita didn't allow a power play goal last night, stopping all four chances for the Mallards. Quad City had scored two power play goals in two-straight games against the Thunder until last night. Wichita has killed off 33 of 41 chances, good for a rate of 80.5%. The Thunder have gone 6-for-44, operating at 13.6% against Quad City.
THUNDERBOLTS… Danick Gauthier is tied for 22nd in goals (17), tied for eighth in power play goals (6) and tied for 18th in power play assists (9)…Jared Walker is tied for fifth in shorthanded goals (2)…Todd Hosmer is 19th in rookie scoring (25) while Ian Duval is tied in 35th (21)…Kenton Miller is in 10th place for shots on net (138)…Tyler Bunz and Tim Boron are tied for fifth in shutouts (2)…Wichita is 12th in shots for per game (31.05) and fourth in shots against per game (27.18)…Wichita is 6-2-0-1 when leading after one...Wichita is 12-8-0-0 when tied after one…Wichita is 6-3-1-1 when tied after two periods…Wichita is 14-10-1-2 when outshooting the opponent…
MALLARDS NOTES - Parker Milner is 3-0-0-0 in four games against Wichita, sporting a 1.50 GAA and a .952 SVPCT...Quad City is 13-3-3-2 when scoring the first goal...Quad City is 5-2-3-1 when tied after two...Quad City is 3-8-0-0 when trailing after one...
AROUND THE ECHL - There are 11 other games tonight in the ECHL. South Carolina takes on Greenville. Toledo heads to Elmira. Orlando goes to Gwinnett. Florida plays at Reading. Kalamazoo goes to Fort Wayne. Cincy plays at Wheeling. Indy heads to Evansville. Rapid City travels to Tulsa. Ontario goes to Colorado. Bakersfield is at Utah. Stockton plays at Alaska.
UP NEXT - Wichita heads back home on Friday, February 13th to host the Missouri Mavericks 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-