Allen, TX (Jan. 27th) - The Wichita Thunder, ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, AHL's Bakersfield Condors and powered by Toyota, finishes a two-game set tonight against the Allen Americans.
The Thunder won a close contest last night, scoring three goals in the third period and escaped with a 3-0 victory. Tyler VanKleef, Kyle Platzer and Nick Latta each scored for Wichita and Shane Starrett stopped all 33 shots he faced to grab his first pro shutout. With the win, Wichita moves within one point of Idaho for second place with 51 points and six points ahead of Allen in third place.
Last night's game was a goaltending battle. Wichita fired 20 shots on net in the first period and finished with 42 for the game, which is a new season-high for shots on net in a game this year. 20 shots is also a new season-high for shots in a period. Starrett's shutout is the first for a Thunder netminder this year.
Wichita looks to continue its winning ways in Allen, having taken three of the first four meetings at the Allen Event Center. The road team in the season-series has won six of the first nine meetings. After tonight, Wichita makes one more trip to Allen on March 28th.
David Makowski leads the Americans with eight points (1g, 7a) against the Thunder. Casey Pierro-Zabotel (3g, 4a) and Joel Chouinard (2g, 5a) each have seven points against Wichita. Jeremy Brodeur, who was named the second star last night, is 2-2-0-0 in five appearances against the Thunder with a 2.53 goals-against average and .936 save percentage. Stephon Williams is 2-3-0-0 in six games against Wichita with a goals-against average of 3.32 and .881 save percentage.
Lane Bauer leads the Thunder with seven points (3g, 4a) against the Americans. Mark MacMillan (3g, 3a) has six points in the season-series. Shane Starrett has been rock solid against Allen, sporting a 4-1-0-0 record in six appearances with a 1.89 goals-against and .944 save percentage.
The Thunder finishes a three-game road trip on Wednesday night against Tulsa at 7:05 p.m.
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