Peter Sakaris scores twice in Thunder hockey victory over Colorado

Grant Rollheiser played the kind of game that allows his teammates to relax.

Not that the Thunder took advantage of such an opportunity. While Rollheiser, Wichita’s goaltender, was stopping 34 of 35 shots, Peter Sakaris made the biggest play of Saturday’s game by outhustling his opponent.

Sakaris beat a Colorado player to a loose puck and converted a rebound to break a second-period tie and lead the Thunder to a 2-1 win at Intrust Bank Arena. Sakaris scored both of Wichita’s goals in support of Rollheiser, who won for the first time in two weeks.

“At any point in the game, any player really wants to try and make a difference,” Sakaris said. “We got an odd-man rush, and as soon as you get a 2-on-1, the main focus is trying to score.

“But a lot of credit goes to (Rollheiser) out there in the pipes. He was phenomenal for us – they out-shot us by a lot and he shut them down to one goal tonight. That was huge for us.”

Colorado out-shot the Thunder 35-14 but Sakaris and Rollheiser helped Wichita sweep a two-game weekend series. The Thunder scored seven times in its first 20 shots covering both games – Sakaris had two assists in Friday’s win – and Rollheiser made Saturday’s shot discrepancy a virtual non-factor.

Sakaris continued his weekend pattern of perfect positioning. In Friday’s game, he made two precise passes leading to Wichita goals, and his follow-up featured his first two goals with similar awareness.

A pass from Andy Huff to Sakaris near the crease led to the first goal and a 1-1 tie in the first period. In the second, Sakaris gathered the aftermath of a Mason Baptista shot and scored as he was shoved to the ice.

Sakaris, Baptista and Huff have, somewhat unexpectedly, become the Thunder’s most cohesive line. Their similar attributes – effort and hustle – complement one another well.

“That line’s been playing well, and the other two lines really haven’t been doing too much,” Thunder coach Kevin McClelland said. “But I don’t want to split that line up right now because they’re hard on the puck, they work hard and they get rewarded for that.

“That’s all that was, was those guys being hard on the puck. (Colorado) turned it over at the blue line, Sakaris was going in alone and he made a great move.”

The Thunder survived the third period, when it was outshot 10-3, thanks mostly to Rollheiser and a late blocked shot by forward Ian Lowe.

Rollheiser is Wichita’s backup, but will see increased minutes soon as the Thunder plays seven games in nine nights. He has won two of his three starts and allowed two goals in the other, sometimes outplaying regular starter David Shantz.

“He was huge for us tonight,” McClelland said. “Sometimes it’s unfortunate there’s no room for a description next to a win. We did enough to win, but he did most of it for us.

“You’ve got to have two good goalies. Look what we’ve got coming up. You need two good goaltenders, so that’s why we’ve been sort of splitting the net at the beginning of the year, so they’re both ready.”

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Peter Sakaris scores twice in Thunder hockey victory over Colorado."