Thunder Fall in Regular Season Home Finale to Tulsa

Wichita, KS (April 8th) - Jussi Olkinuora stopped 29 shots and a late empty-net goal from Adam Pleskach proved to the difference as Tulsa (36-30-3-2) held on for a 2-1 victory over Wichita (18-41-6-6) on Friday night at INTRUST Bank Arena. Domenic Alberga had the lone Thunder tally of the night.

Both teams played an even first period as Wichita finished with nine shots while Tulsa had 10.

In the second, Tulsa had a chance to grab a lead when Christophe Lalancette stepped away down the middle of the ice, but was hooked up by Dan Milan near the Thunder line and was given a penalty shot. Lalancette didn't get a great shot off and the game remained scoreless. Phil Brewer broke the tie with a shorthanded breakaway goal with eight minutes to go in the frame and his 25th of the year.

Wichita had plenty of chances in the third and limited the Oilers to just 14 shots over the final 40 minutes of play. The Thunder unloaded 12 shots on Olkinuora and plenty more sailed over the net.

With just over a minute, David Shantz was pulled for the extra attacker only to see Pleskach get to a loose puck and fire it into the empty cage. 26 seconds later, Alberga tipped home a shot from Donnie Harris to cut the lead to one. The Thunder had one last face-off in front of Olkinuora, but lost the face-off and the final horn sounded.

Alberga netted his ninth of the season with assists to Harris and Dean Chelios. Shantz took the loss, stopping 22 of 23 shots. Olkinuora earned his 13th win of the season, stopping 29 of 30 shots he faced.

Wichita went 0-for-4 on the power play. Tulsa went 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

Wichita closes the regular season tomorrow night at Tulsa starting 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.

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