Thunder can’t keep up in ECHL debut

The Thunder wasn’t just beaten in its first game in the ECHL after 22 seasons in the Central Hockey League, it was overshadowed.

Wichita’s top line of Ian Lowe, Nikita Kashirsky and Alex Bourret combined for one point, a Lowe assist on Jared Walker’s short-handed goal. That’s glaring on its own, but especially so when factoring Allen’s five points from its starting forwards in the Americans’ 5-3 win Saturday night at Intrust Bank Arena.

Walker’s score was upstaged by two power-play goals by Allen and the fact that the Thunder didn’t score in five one-man advantages.

There were some positive aspects of Wichita’s first game in a new league, but the result felt too familiar following a season in which the Thunder finished in ninth place in the 10-team CHL and lost to Allen five of eight times.

“A lot wasn’t good, too,” Thunder coach Kevin McClelland said. “We didn’t have a lot of scoring opportunities. It was a low-shot-total game by both teams, but we didn’t generate anything. At the end of the night, you add up the power-play goals and the non-power-play goals, and special teams won that.”

The Thunder has 14 new players and didn’t play an exhibition game following a relatively short training camp, and special teams can take a while to iron out because they often require cohesion and familiarity.

Wichita exhibited neither of those characteristics Saturday. When the Thunder made a stop on a power-play shot, Allen was usually first to get to the rebounds, and it scored two of its goals from them.

The Thunder seemed unsure during its power-play opportunities, hesitant to work the puck toward the net. One particularly egregious instance came during the second period when five of Wichita’s best scorers produced a turnover and couldn’t retrieve the puck from Allen in the 20-or-so seconds before the power play ended.

“They had some tap-ins,” McClelland said. “They were easy goals, and that’s what we’ve got to do on our power play. We don’t even get shots — we don’t get shots. We have the opportunity to get some shots and get a big power-play goal, and we don’t.”

All of Wichita’s top forwards — Ian Lowe, Nikita Kashirsky and Alex Bourret — are part of the power-play unit, so the lack of production was staggering. Allen counterparts Gary Steffes, Jack Combs and Chad Costello combined for five points, including Steffes’ tiebreaker early in the third.

“Their guys were good tonight,” McClelland said. “They got the goals when they needed them. Our guys didn’t. That better not be a trend. I was disappointed in quite a few guys. I know it’s only game one, but moving forward they’ve got to be a lot better.”

Allen’s scorers set the tone for the Americans’ increased aggressiveness to start periods. Wichita played with the lead in the first period, but only after Allen’s offense was first to attack.

In the second, Allen scored twice in the first three minutes before the Thunder gathered itself for the tying goal. The Americans took the lead for good about four minutes into the third period.

“It kind of felt like we were playing on our heels and letting them dictate the play,” Walker said. “We’ve got to be the team, especially at home, that goes out there and plays on our toes and dictates the type of play.”

The Thunder couldn’t make a turning-point out of Walker’s short-handed goal, which turned a potential two-goal deficit into a 3-3 tie in the second period. Wichita got another unlikely goal from enforcer Erick Lizon, but the lack of support from the top forwards weighed heavily.

“Anytime you get a short-handed goal, it’s huge,” Walker said. “They don’t happen very often. At the time it was huge, but we ran into some penalty problems.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2014 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Thunder can’t keep up in ECHL debut."