Thunder Buck Mavericks with 4-2 Win

Wichita, KS (Nov. 1st) - Danick Gauthier scored two third-period goals to propel Wichita (2-1-1-0) past the Missouri Mavericks (1-3-0-0) on Saturday night at INTRUST Bank Arena. Gauthier, playing in his first game since being assigned to Wichita, finished with a goal and an assist. Jared Walker continued on his torrid pace, scoring his third of the season and extending his point-streak to four. Wichita leads the Independence Cup Series 1-0-0-0 and will face the Mavericks again on November 9th in the Air Capital.

It didn't take the Thunder long to get going when Alex Bourret fired a pass to the slot. Ian Lowe was able to crash the net and the puck re-directed off a Mavs defender past Mike Clemente for the 1-0 lead. Bourret's goal happened just 50 seconds into the game, which is the fastest goal so far this season for Wichita. Missouri would answer before the end of the period when Sebastien Thinel put home a rebound with less than a minute on the clock and tied the game at one.

In the second period, Jared Walker followed a shot from Kurtis Bartliff and scored to re-gain the lead at 5:35. Wichita had a number of chances before the second came to a close, but couldn't get one past Clemente. The Thunder had two power plays in the frame, but couldn't find the net and headed to the third up by one.

Missouri evened the game five minutes into the third when Alex Lepkowski found a loose puck and whistled one off the bar and in that tied the game at two. At 12:56, Mike Wilson came down the left wing and his wrist shot pin-balled off of a Mavericks player past Clemente to give the Thunder a 3-2 advantage. Gauthier added an insurance goal with a beautiful wrist shot over Clemente's shoulder that made it 4-2. Missouri tried to pull their goaltender with a minute remaining, but the Thunder skated away with the victory.

Walker and Schultz each tallied points to extend their point-streaks to four games. Kenton Miller had two assists in the contest. Wichita outshot an opponent for the first time this season, firing 30 shots on net. Boron earned his second-straight win, stopping 19 of 21 shots. Clemente took the loss, stopping 26 of 30 shots he faced.

Wichita is 0-for-6 on the power play. Missouri went 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

Wichita finishes the weekend tomorrow afternoon at the BOK Center against the Tulsa Oilers at 4:05 p.m. It will be the third meeting in the last eight days for the two teams in the StoneWolf Casino Cup Series.

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-