WICHITA, Kan. (Jan. 5) – Wichita closed its three-game set against Iowa on a snowy Sunday afternoon, falling to the Heartlanders, 5-1, at INTRUST Bank Arena.
Kobe Walker recorded the lone Thunder goal with assists awarded to Jay Dickman and Mitchell Russell. Gabriel Carriere suffered the loss, stopping 39 shots.
The two teams played through a scoreless first period with Iowa taking a 17-10 shot advantage. Both teams had two power plays in the opening frame, but came up empty.
Just 35 seconds into the second, T.J. Walsh opened the scoring. Will Calverley made a nice play near the right post and found Walsh across the blue paint for his 10th of the year.
Matthew Sop made it 2-0 at 4:14. He caught a lead pass from Calverley through the middle of the ice, came in around a Thunder blueliner and beat Carriere.
At 17:01, Ryan Miotto potted a power play goal to extend the lead to 3-0. Sop found him in the high slot and he fired a shot past Carriere.
Timmy Kent made it 4-0 at 9:32 of the third. His initial shot hit T.J. Lloyd off the right skate, but he stayed with it and beat Carriere for his second of the season.
Walker broke up the shutout bid from William Rousseau at 17:21. He potted home a cross-crease pass from Dickman to record his 11th of the year.
Miotto tallied his second of the contest with 31 seconds remaining in regulation to close the scoring.
Walker finished with three goals over the weekend. Russell has points in three of his last four outings. Dickman has assists in four of his last five contests.
Wichita went 1-for-4 on the power play. Iowa was 1-for-5 on the man advantage.
The Thunder begins a three-game series next week against Allen starting on Wednesday night at Credit Union of Texas Event Center.
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