Thunder Wins High Scoring Contest in a Shootout vs. Tahoe

STATELINE, NV (April 9) – Wichita started a three-game road trip on Wednesday night at Tahoe, claiming a 6-5 shootout victory at Tahoe Blue Event Center. 

Michal Stinil recorded the lone goal in the penalty shot round. Trevor Gorsuch stopped all three shooters to preserve his 18th win of the season. 

Kobe Walker opened the scoring at 5:53 of the first period. Stinil came around the net, caught a pass from Bates, dished it through the slot to Walker and he beat Jepser Vikman to make it 1-0. 

Sloan Stanick tied the game at 12:24. During a broken play, he found a rebound and banked it off Gorsuch near the right post and tallied his 28th of the year. 

In the second, Nolan Burke made it 2-1 at 1:33. Nolan Kneen fired a shot from the blue line. Burke found a rebound and beat Vikman for his 13th of the season. 

Tahoe scored the next two to take its first lead. Jett Jones tied it at two at 11:56. He muscled his way near the net and redirected a pass from Luke Adam for his 22nd of the year. 

At 16:47, Jake McGrew made it 3-2. He created a turnover and beat Gorsuch near the left post for his 19th marker of the season.

Just 22 seconds later, Luke Grainger tied the game at three. Mitchell Russell fed a pass off the rush to Grainger, who tipped it with his backhand past Vikman. 

Tahoe re-gained the lead with just four seconds to go in the second. Bear Hughes found a rebound near the create and beat Gorsuch for his 21st of the year. 

In the third, Dillon Boucher tied the game at four. He fired a shot from the top of the right circle past Vikman at 7:26.

At 13:53, Declan Smith made it 6-5 in favor of the visitors. Artem Guryev took a shot from the left point. Smith got a piece of it and beat Vikman for his seventh of the year. 

Tahoe had one last faceoff with four seconds left and tied the game. Nate Kallen fired a one-timer from the deep slot and beat Gorsuch with one second on the clock to force overtime. 

In the extra session, both teams had several chances denied by each goaltender. Reid Irwin was called for tripping at 5:19, giving Tahoe a four-on-three power play. Gorsuch made two terrific saves to force the game into a shootout. 

Stinil scored in the bottom of round two, giving the Thunder a 1-0 advantage in the shootout. Gorsuch stopped Sloan Stanick at the top of round three to earn the win. 

With the win, the Thunder moves alone into third place with 85 points. Stinil is 5-for-5 in shootout attempts. He also has four assists in his last four games. Bates has four points in his last four outings. Kneen extended his assist streak to five games. Walker has points in four of his last five contests. Grainger earned his fourth multi-point outing of the season. Carroll returned to the Thunder lineup for the first time since February 21, extending his point streak to eight. 

Wichita went 0-for-2 on the power play. Tahoe was 0-for-3 on the man advantage. 

The two teams resume their three-game series on Friday night with the opening faceoff at 9:30 CST at Tahoe Blue Event Center.

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