Thunder wins again in shootout

Reminded that the Thunder has 70 games remaining this season, coach Kevin McClelland said, “Don’t remind me.”

It would certainly be taxing to live through games like Wichita’s first two, when it has lost third-period leads in the final minutes. But the burdened has been eased by the results, as the Thunder improved to 2-0 with a 5-4 shootout win over Quad City in the home opener on Saturday night at Intrust Bank Arena.

After watching four newcomers take their turns on the shootout, returning captain Ian Lowe gave Wichita its second goal of the round and the victory, setting off a frenzy on the ice among Saturday’s 7,000 fans.

“I think both of these last two games we kind of blew a lead,” Lowe said. “As long as we’re winning games right now, it’s good to have a little adversity and see what the guys are made of. I needed that one there, I was minus-4, so I had to pick (goalie Grant Rollheiser) up there.”

Wichita led for most of Saturday’s game, and was ahead 3-1 in the final nine minutes of the second period, but later on the Thunder was often seconds from losing.

In the final moments of regulation, a Wichita turnover gave Quad City a breakaway, 1-on-1 opportunity, but Rollheiser made a kick save to send it to overtime. In the extra period, the Thunder survived a 4-on-3 power play that included several Quad City near-misses.

“Tonight when it’s 3-1, we’ve got to close those things down,” McClelland said. “We got a little sloppy and they came at us pretty hard, but that’s going to happen in pro hockey. We had our spurt in the beginning of the second, they had their spurt.”

The Thunder was most effective over the first 30 minutes, taking a 3-1 lead with hustle and assertiveness with the puck. McClelland complained often last season about the hesitation from Wichita’s forwards, but several players on Saturday, especially some newcomers, displayed a scoring mentality.

Anthony Deluca, a 20-year-old rookie, didn’t score Saturday after notching his first professional goal the night before, but he tied for the team lead with three shots on net. Michael Neal and Joey Sides matched him, as did defenseman Brandon Martell.

Seven players have scored Wichita’s eight goals this year.

“There’s not one first line or one third line,” Lowe said. “I think everybody’s pretty even here, and everybody goes out and takes the body and scores the goal. When we need momentum, whether it’s the second line or third line or whatever, everybody’s doing their job out there.”

McClelland learned enough from practicing shootouts twice during training camp to send Sides, Deluca, Neal and rookie Mason Baptista out for the shootout. Only Sides scored, but leaving Danick Gauthier and Kenton Miller, two of last year’s top scorers, on the bench showed that Wichita may have some superior shooters.

“Deluca scored a bunch of goals (in practice), he’s a good goal scorer,” McClelland said. “Sides is a shifty little guy. Neal went in – he’s a guy that can score goals – and hit the post. Then you have an opportunity to win it, so you go with probably your best shooter, Ian Lowe. Sure enough, boom, it’s in the net.”

Wichita didn’t have more wins than losses until 29 games last season, so the Thunder isn’t looking for early style points.

“We had some tough plays out there,” Lowe said. “I think I needed something to get the boys back on my side.

Note – Referee Michael McCreary fell to the ice during the first period. An EMS crew was summoned as McCreary lay motionless in the corner, but McCreary eventually got up with the help of fellow officials. He did not continue and was said to have possibly suffered a concussion.

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 10:51 PM with the headline "Thunder wins again in shootout."