WICHITA, Kan. (Apr. 10) – Wichita returned home on Friday night to host Kansas City for the final time this season, falling to the Mavericks 5-2 at INTRUST Bank Arena in front of 9,014 fans. 

Kyle Jeffers and Peter Bates found the net in the losing effort. Roddy Ross suffered the loss, stopping 37 shots. 

Just 40 seconds into the game, Casey Carreau connected to make it 1-0. David Cotton stole the puck in the neutral zone, skated down on a two-on-one, fed it over to Carreau and he buried it for his 22nd of the year. 

At 10:38, Jackson Jutting redirected a point shot from James Marooney to make it 2-0. 

Wichita appeared to cut the lead to one with five minutes to go in the opening frame. During a net-front scramble, Spencer Blackwell slid home a loose puck. The officials got together to review the play. After looking at the video, the goal was waived off.

In the second, Jeffers tallied his 10th of the year to put the Thunder on the board. Nick Nardecchia won a battle below the goal line and found Jeffers in the slot. After whiffing on the initial shot, he stayed with the play and beat Logan Terness. 

Tabor Heaslip scored with just nine seconds left in the second to make it 3-1. Jutting came around some traffic in the high slot and let a shot go towards the net. Heaslip redirected it past Ross and tallied his first goal as a pro. 

In the third, Lucas Sowder recorded his 14th of the year to make it 4-1. He intercepted a clearing attempt in the high slot and fired a shot past Ross.

At 15:45, Bates connected for his 21st of the season to cut the lead to 4-2. He stole the puck near the Wichita line, skated down on a shorthanded breakaway and beat Terness through the five-hole. 

Ross was lifted for the extra attacker with just over two minutes remaining. Thomas Farrell fired a shot from the right corner and found an empty net to make it 5-2.

Bates has goals in three straight. Jeffers has three points in his last two outings. Nardecchia recorded his first point since February 25. 

Wichita went 0-for-3 on the power play. Kansas City was 0-for-3 on the man advantage. 

The Thunder heads on the road tomorrow night to close their season-series against Kansas City. Faceoff is set for 6:05 p.m.

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