Thunder Close Out Series in Rapid City with 4-2 Loss

Rapid City, SD (April 2nd) - Rapid City (29-33-3-4) scored three unanswered down the stretch, including two on the power play, to knock off Wichita (18-39-6-6) by the final of 4-2 on Saturday night at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

Kenton Miller and Domenic Alberga scored for the Thunder in the losing effort.

Rapid City got on the board first as Lindsay Sparks carried the puck across the goal line, leaned into David Shantz and put it through for a 1-0 lead. The Thunder answered during a five-on-three power play as Miller buried a rebound to tie it at one.

Alberga gave Wichita its first lead of the game at 1:24 of the second. He lost his glove in the corner, stayed with the play and roofed a shot past Danny Battochio for a 2-1 advantage. Sparks came back to answer with his second of the contest at 12:34 on the power play, tying it at two. With 2.3 seconds left in the frame, Winston Day Chief found a rebound during a net-mouth scramble and put a shot just inside the crossbar for a 3-2 lead.

Mark Miller tacked on an empty-net goal with just over a minute to go in regulation and pushed the Rapid City lead to 4-2. Wichita had plenty of chances down the stretch, with the best coming from Logan Nelson prior to the final Rush tally. His wrist shot through traffic from the left circle was stopped by Battochio.

Kenton Miller has goals in back-to-back games. Landon Oslanski adds an assist, pushing his totals to 20 points on the man advantage. Michael Neal, Ian Lowe and Nelson also grabbed assists in the contest. Shantz takes the loss, stopping 23 of 26 shots. Battochio earns the win, stopping 27 of 29 shots he faced.

Wichita went 1-for-2 on the power play. Rapid City went 2-for-5 on the man advantage.

Wichita returns home for the start of a three-game set against Tulsa on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m.

Individual tickets for all games are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased at the INTRUST Arena Box office, by calling 855-755-SEAT or go online at www.selectaseat.com.

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About the ECHLThe 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-