Comeback Falls Short On Saturday At Iowa

CORALVILLE, IA (Mar. 23) – Wichita battled back from a two-goal deficit on Saturday night, but fell to Iowa, 3-2, at Xtream Arena. 

Michal Stinil and Jason Pineo provided the offense for the Thunder. 

Iowa broke a scoreless tie early in the second period. Brett Budgell beat Beck Warm from in-close with a power play goal after walking off the goal line. He tucked it just under the bar for his 12th of the year. 

Stinil tied the game just three minutes into the third. Brandon Saigeon threaded the needle to him behind the Heartlanders' defense. Stinil came in on a breakaway and beat Peyton Jones over the glove for his 29th marker of the season. 

Pavel Novak scored back-to-back goals just three minutes apart to give Iowa a 3-1 advantage. His first came at 10:39 as he fired a sharp angle shot from the right boards off the far post and beat Warm for his 10th of the year. 

Novak tallied his second of the game at 14:06 to increase the lead to two. The Heartlanders created a turnover near the Thunder line. He was the recipient of a beautiful pass back to the edge of the left circle from Budgell and he fired it past Warm. 

Pineo tallied his 12th of the season at 15:45 to cut the lead to one. Dillon Boucher came around the net and tried to tuck home a backhand at the left post. Pineo slipped the rebound through Jones to make it 3-2. 

Wichita called its timeout with about 40 seconds remaining and pulled Warm. With the clock clicking down, Jay Dickman was denied on a one-timer from the edge of the right circle by Jones to seal the victory for the Heartlanders. 

The Thunder went 0-for-2 on the power play. Iowa was 1-for-1 on the man advantage. 

Stinil has four goals in his last four games and needs two more to equal his career-high. Boucher has points in back-to-back games. 

The two teams close their season-series tomorrow afternoon beginning at 2:05 p.m.

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