Thunder Wins Wild One In Idaho, 6-5

Boise, ID (March 8th) - Ryan Van Stralen recorded his first professional hat trick, including a penalty shot in overtime, to help Wichita knock off Idaho on Saturday night by the final of 6-5 in a wild affair at CenturyLink Arena.

Corey Kalk, Colin Larkin and Jason Salvaggio each scored for the Thunder and Dylan Wells earned his 12th win of the season, stopping 44 shots.

Both teams found the back of the net in the first period. Idaho got on the board first when Nolan Gluchowski fired a shot from the right point that went past Dylan Wells to make it 1-0. At 16:07, Kalk tied the game at one as he let a shot go from the right boards near the hashmarks. Ryan Faragher got caught out of the crease and as he scrambled back into the blue paint, was unable to make the save.

In the second, the two teams combined for six goals. Van Stralen potted his first at 4:44 as he caught a pass from Larkin and roofed it over Faragher to give the Thunder a 2-1 lead. He scored his second at 6:25 during a beautiful passing play through the slot. Larkin made it 4-1 at 16:11 as he tipped home a pass from Dyson Stevenson with one hand on his stick for his second of the year. Just 18 seconds later, Salvaggio buried a one-timer from the top of the left circle to increase the lead to 5-1. That would be it for Faragher as he was pulled and Colton Point came on in relief.

Idaho mounted a furious comeback, which started with a goal from Elgin Pearce at 18:21. Mitch Moroz cut the lead to 5-3 with just two seconds left in the second frame.

Pearce netted his second of the game at 5:13 of the third as he found a loose puck near the slot and slid it past Wells to make it 5-4. Spencer Naas tied the contest at 10:55 with a between-the-legs shot along the ice that squirted through Wells. The two teams needed the extra period to decide the outcome.

In overtime, Van Stralen came down the left wing with a scoring chance. He was hauled down on his way to the net and the official awarded him a penalty shot. He went backhand, forehand and beat Point to the blocker side and won the game, 6-5.

Larkin finished with a goal and an assist. Quentin Shore had two helpers. Van Stralen recorded his first multi-goal game of the season and had eight shots on net.

The Thunder heads to Kansas City next Friday night to finish the Independence Cup Series at 7:05 p.m.

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