Allen, TX (March 12th) - Allen (35-20-3-2) used a four-goal first period to skate past Wichita (14-34-6-6) on Saturday night by the final score of 6-3 at the Allen Event Center.
Dalton Reum, Martin Nemcik and Christian Isackson provided the offense for the Thunder.
The two teams combined for six goals in the first. Gary Steffes made it 1-0 at 7:54 when he beat Sean Bonar, who went for a poke-check, and slid it off his leg in the net. Wichita tied the game on the power play with a goal from Reum at 12:23. Dyson Stevenson then found the net twice in a 10-second span to make it 3-1. At 16:36, Tristan King caught a pass down the slot and beat Bonar to make it 4-1. The Thunder capitalized on a power play at 18:24 as Reum blasted one through traffic and cut the lead to 4-2.
The only goal of the second came from David Makowski at 7:20 that increased the lead to 5-2. Shots were almost even in the frame as Allen led 27-26 after 40 minutes.
Nemcik recorded his fourth of the season at 1:43 of the third period and cut the lead to 5-3. Wichita had a great chance at the 10 minute-mark when Steffes was whistled for a four-minute high stick. The Americans penalty kill stood tall and helped the home team to an eventual 6-3 victory as Stevenson tacked on his third of the night into an empty-net late in the frame.
The loss snaps the Thunder's three-game winning streak. Isackson pushes his scoring-streak to five games with his 10th goal of the season. Kale Kerbashian netted an assist against his former team. Bonar takes the loss, stopping 29 of 35 shots he faced. Gill claims the win, stopping 37 of 40 shots he faced.
Wichita was 1-for-3 on the man advantage. Allen went 1-for-4 on the power play.
Wichita and Allen finish their regular season-series tomorrow afternoon at 4:05 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.
-Thunder-