WICHITA, Kan. (Nov. 15) - Idaho jumped out to a three-goal lead and skated away with a 4-1 victory against Wichita on Friday night at INTRUST Bank Arena.
Beau Starrett scored the lone Thunder goal with assists to Nolan Vesey and Matt Brassard. Mitch Gillam suffered the loss, stopping 44 of 48 shots.
Idaho struck first as Will Merchant collected a centering pass from Marc-Olivier Roy and tucked it past a sliding Mitch Gillam just 1:01 into the game. Gillam came up big later in the frame as Idaho had two shorthanded chances, but he stood tall and kept the puck out of the net.
In the second, Idaho added two more in a span of two minutes. Spencer Naas scored a power play goal at 3:53 to make it 2-0. During a delayed penalty, Colton Saucerman beat Gillam near the right post to increase the lead to 3-0.
Starrett nearly scored in the first minute of the third as he came up the right wing, took a drop pass from Vesey and went across the goal-mouth. The puck slid through the crease and just missed the left post. He scored his 5th of the season at 4:38 as he stuffed home a shot from Brassard to cut the lead to 3-1. Wichita was forced to kill another penalty, however, after Nolan Vesey went after Eric Sweetman due to a hit he put on Jason Salvaggio. Idaho took advantage and Joe Basaraba made it 4-1 to put the game out of reach.
Starrett has four goals in his last six games and points in five of his last six. Vesey picked up his second fighting major in his third game with the Thunder.
Wichita is off until next Friday night with a trip to Texas to take on the Allen Americans at 7:05 p.m.
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