Third Period Dooms Thunder In Loss At KC

INDEPENDENCE, MO (Feb. 3) – Wichita traveled to Independence on Saturday night to face Kansas City, losing 4-1 at Cable Dahmer Arena. 

The Mavericks broke open a tie game with three goals in the final 20 minutes to claim their ninth win against the Thunder this season. 

Peter Bates recorded the lone goal for Wichita while Jay Dickman and Mitchell Russell added assists. 

Late in the first, Bates scored a buzzer-beater at 19:59 to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead. Russell battled for a loose puck in the corner, fed it across the slot to Bates and he scored with 0:00.1 left on the clock. 

In the second, Nolan Walker capitalized on a turnover near the Thunder line. He fired a shot from the left circle for his 20th of the year at 9:59 to tie it at one. 

The Mavericks took their first lead of the game at 5:44 of the third. Nate Knoepke fired a shot from the left point that caught Beck Warm's leg pad. Max Andreev got to the rebound and put it home for his 10th of the year to make it 2-1.

At 7:52, Cole Coskey made it 3-1. He stopped at the left wall, took advantage of a Thunder player losing an edge and beat Warm from in-close for his 17th of the season. 

Kyle Jackson closed the scoring at 9:25 with a shot from the slot to make it 4-1. 

Wichita went 0-for-2 on the power play. Kansas City was 0-for-4 on the man advantage. 

Bates equaled a career-high with his 22nd goal of the year. Dickman has four points in his last three games. Russell has points in three-straight (1g, 3a). 

The Thunder closes their weekend series against Kansas City tomorrow afternoon at 4:05 p.m. at INTRUST Bank Arena.

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