Thunder Powers Past Brampton, 5-2

Brampton, ON, CA (March 9th) - Wichita (28-21-2-6) had one of its best performances of the season on Monday night, skating past Brampton (19-34-3-0) by the final score of 5-2 at the Powerade Centre. The Thunder limited the Beast chances, allowing just eight shots through the first two periods. Wichita takes five out of a possible six points and improves to 4-1-0-1 in the season-series against Brampton.

RG Flath, Todd Hosmer and Kurtis Bartliff each had two points while Grant Rollheiser claimed his second win of the week against his former team.

The Thunder got off to a great start, limiting the Beast in almost every facet of the game. At 10:07, Flath put home a rebound for his 12th of the season on the power play with assists to Mike Wilson and Eric Meland to make it 1-0. Justin Bernhardt, who was fighting an illness, increased the lead to 2-0 when followed up the play at the side of the net and put a rebound Ryan DeMelo's five-hole. Wichita outshot the Beast 16-3 in the opening frame and took a two-goal lead into the intermission.

Early in the second, Bobby Hughes got Brampton on the board with a wrist shot from just inside the right wing circle. Wichita responded six minutes later with a goal from Bartliff, who muscled off a defender on the rush and put home his first since returning to the line-up. The Thunder again were stingy in their defensive zone, outshooting the Beast 25-8 through 40 minutes and led 3-1.

Kashirsky extended the Wichita lead to 4-1 three minutes into the third. Meland dove across the ice to keep the puck in at the left circle, got it over to Hosmer and he made a beautiful pass across the slot to Kashirsky for his 15th of the year. The Beast got one back at 10:47 during a delayed penalty call. Matthew Maione stuffed home a loose puck during a net-front scramble and made it 4-2. The Beast pulled DeMelo with three minutes to go and had a six-on-four power play. Hosmer finally buried an empty-netter with nine seconds remaining and the Thunder went on to win, 5-2.

Wichita improves to 5-2-1 all-time at the PowerAde Center and 7-4-1 in the series against Brampton. Kashirsky pushes his point-streak to nine games, recording 12 points in that span (6g, 6a). Flath has goals in back-to-back games, moving into an eighth-place tie with Jim McGeough in goals scored all-time in a Thunder uniform (85). He also jumps ahead of Andrew Martens into 11th place all-time with 173 points. Lizon recorded an assist in his third-straight game, setting a new career high with 17 points (7g, 10a). Wilson extends his point-streak to five games with an assist (2g, 6a). Rollheiser takes the victory, stopping 14 of 16 shots. DeMelo takes his first pro loss, stopping 27 of 31 shots he faced.

Wichita went 2-for-2 on the man advantage and has gone 11-for-31 over the last seven games (35.5%). Brampton went 0-for-2 on the power play.

Wichita remains on the road for the next four games as the team will head to Tulsa this coming Friday night against the Oilers at 7:35 p.m.

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.

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