Thunder Strike Down Beast in OT, 5-4

Brampton, ON (March 6th) - For the second straight game, Wichita (27-21-2-5) found a way to come back from a two-goal deficit and won in overtime by the final of 5-4 against Brampton (18-33-3-0) at the Powerade Centre on Friday night. The Thunder erased three two-goal leads by the Beast with a pair of late power play markers and got the game-winner from Mike Wilson to improve to 5-2 in games decided in overtime. Wichita improves to 3-1-0-0 against Brampton with two more meetings against the Beast this weekend.

Nikita Kashirsky and Wilson finished with three points each while Justin Bernhardt had a goal and an assist.

The Beast scored early in the first period to take a 1-0 lead. Stephon Thorne came around on his forehand and roofed a shot past Grant Rollheiser. Wichita had some early penalty trouble and lost Danick Gauthier with just over a minute remaining in the opening frame after he was called for a boarding major and a game misconduct. Brampton had five-consecutive power plays and finished the first with just under four minutes of the major penalty that carried over into the second.

Dalton Thrower increased the lead to 2-0 for the Beast, scoring on the power play at 2:03 of the second. Justin Bernhardt broke through for his eighth of the year to cut the lead to 2-1 at 12:01. He gave it over to Wilson, who then fed it back to Bernhardt at the side of the net with Trevor Cann caught out of position. Brampton re-gained a two-goal advantage when Brett Lyon tipped in a shot from the blue line at 15:59 to make it 3-1 on the power play. Nearing the end of the second, Jared Walker recorded his 12th of the season after collecting a rebound from a Kashirsky shot and beat Cann to the short side to make it 3-2.

In the third, David Ling scored at 4:12 with a backhand that beat Rollheiser over the glove and increased the lead to 4-2. Wichita stormed back with a pair of power play goals in a four-minute span. Kashirsky collected a rebound at 10:08 for his 14th of the year and cut the lead to 4-3. At 14:02, Todd Hosmer shoveled home a centering feed from Ian Lowe at the side of the net and tied the game with his 17th of the year. The score would stand and for the first time in the season-series, the two teams headed past regulation.

Brampton got some early chances in the extra session, but Rollheiser was up to the task as he stoned Jason Pitton twice. At 3:33, Kirill Tulupov fired a shot from the blue line that bounced off of Cann, hit the shin pad of Wilson as he was nearing the crease and went in for the game-winner.

Wichita has won three straight games that have gone past regulation. Kashirksy pushes his point-streak to seven games, recording 10 points in that span (5g, 5a). Wilson had a goal and two assists, giving him 200 points in his pro career and points in his last three (2g, 4a). Lowe added an assist and has points in his last five (1g, 6a). Walker extended his point-streak to four games (1g, 3a). Lizon recorded an assist, putting him one point away from his career-high (7g, 8a). Rollheiser claims his ninth win of the season and first since being acquired in a trade, stopping 28 of 32 shots. Cann suffered the loss, stopping 26 of 31 shots he faced.

Wichita went 2-for-4 on the man advantage and has a power play goal in five-straight games. Brampton went 2-for-6 on the power play.

Wichita is off tomorrow night and will return to action on Sunday afternoon against Brampton with the opening face-off scheduled for 2 p.m. EST.

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-