Thunder Falls Short vs. KC

WICHITA, Kan. (March 26) - Wichita tried to mount a comeback on Friday night, but fell to Kansas City by the final of 6-4 at INTRUST Bank Arena. 

Kansas City scored five-unanswered to take a 5-1 lead midway through the game. The Thunder climbed back within one with four minutes left, but came up just short. 

Jay DIckman, Austin McIlmurray and Peter Crinella each had two points in the losing effort. 

Garrett Schmitz got the scoring started just 3:48 into the game. Just as a power play was expiring, he jumped on a loose puck and fired it past Matt Ginn for his third of the season.

Nick Pastujov tied the game two minutes later for his first of two. He caught pass in front of the crease after Evan Buitenhuis had made a save on Adam Brady. Darik Angeli got to a loose puck, gave it to Pastujov and he slid it through to make it 1-1. Zach Osburn gave the Mavericks a 2-1 advantage at 6:43 as he found his own rebound and scored his sixth of the year. 

In the second, Boston Leier tipped home a rebound at 3:41 to make it 3-1. Pastujov scored at 8:45, grabbing his second of the game and fourth of the season to make it 4-1. Jared VanWormer made it 5-1 at 10:00 with a rebound off the pads of Buitenhuis.

Dickman cut the lead to 5-2 with a beautiful wrist shot off a face-off at 17:50 for his 12th of the season. Beauregard won the draw back to him and Dickman wristed a shot over the glove of Ginn.

Beau Starrett potted his seventh of the year at 5:56 of the third to cut the lead to 5-3. McIlmurray fed him a pass near the crease and beat Ginn. The goal had to be reviewed, but stood and gave the Thunder some life.

At 16:01, McIlmurray fired home a one-timer from the slot to make it 5-4. Wichita pulled Buitenhuis and had one last face-off in the Mavericks zone, but Lane Scheidl found an empty net and closed the scoring at 6-4. 

Wichita has killed off 14-straight penalties, which spans the last three contests. Dickman and McIlmurray each finished with a goal and an assist while Crinella had two helpers. Buitenhuis wasn't scheduled to start, but was forced into duty after Evan Weninger went down during warm-ups.

The Thunder heads on the road for the next four games starting tomorrow night in Independence, Missouri against Kansas City at 7:05 p.m.

Single game tickets are on sale now. Click here to purchase tickets or call the Thunder office at 316-264-4625.

ECHL TV has a new provider for the 2020-21 season. We are proud to partner with FloHockey, which provides subscribers with plenty of content. Watch live events across all screens by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Chromecast. To become a subscriber, click here.

Follow along with us on our social media platforms on Facebook (@wichitathunder1), Twitter (@wichita_thunder), Snapchat (wichthunder), Instagram (Wichita_Thunder) and LinkedIn.