Thunder’s struggles continue

You may see Kevin McClelland around town buying stamps this week. He’ll likely need extra.

After the latest Thunder defeat, a 5-2 loss to Missouri on Saturday night at Intrust Bank Arena, McClelland addressed the way to get his message across to Wichita’s many struggling players.

“You just get a piece of paper that says ‘Waiver form,’ you write their name on it, and you send it into the league,” McClelland said.

There are few Thunder players pulling their weight. Wichita fell behind 3-0 in the first period, was outshot 43-26, saw another chance for momentum turn on poor special-teams play, and fell for the seventh time in seven tries against Missouri this season.

“It’s been long enough, now there are guys who are just past it and can’t play anymore,” McClelland said. “Some guys we brought in that we thought could play, but they can’t. We’ve just got to keep tinkering here. We’ve got to find the right pieces, the right attitude, and not a bunch of loose cannons.”

McClelland didn’t mention names — he almost never does — and it’s not easy to narrow down the Thunder’s list of underachievers.

Danick Gauthier, a 2014-15 ECHL All-Star, scored his first goal on Saturday in Wichita’s 16^th game. Joey Sides, an offseason addition who scored 74 points in his last full season, hasn’t scored a goal.

Former NHL defenseman Theo Peckham, who began last season as captain, has contributed little, with no points and a minus-5 rating. Ten Thunder players have played at least 10 games and scored five or fewer points.

Many of those are defensemen, but even that speaks to Wichita’s overall scoring problems. The Thunder doesn’t have a defenseman to lead a power play, and Wichita is last in the league in that category. After two more failed power plays on Saturday, the Thunder has converted 2 of 61.

“They just start tapering off and you don’t get the same numbers,” McClelland said. “I went through it as a hockey player, everyone goes through it as a hockey player. Obviously, some guys are a little bit past (effectiveness), I’d say.

“It is up to us to motivate them, but you’ve got to motivate yourself, man. You want to go out there and be able to conduct yourself in a good way with your play, and if you can’t, you’re in the wrong business.”

The Thunder made it 3-2 late in the first period and the completion of the comeback seemed possible early in the second. But Missouri, as Allen did on Friday, regained control with a power-play goal. Missouri took 24 shots in the period and halted Wichita’s chances.

“It’s hard to explain,” McClelland said. “It really is, as a coach. You wonder what you’re looking at sometimes. It’s not what we teach them, not what we go over with them to do. We’ve got to reel them back in, make a few adjustments and keep moving forward. That’s all you can do.”

Missouri added a short-handed goal in the third, accenting Wichita’s power-play deficiency. The Thunder hasn’t won a game in regulation since Oct. 31, dropping eight of nine overall.

“We feel like we have moments in the game where we outplay them,” Thunder forward Kenton Miller said of Wichita’s general difficulties. “They can’t even compete with us. Then it’s our little breakdowns, just minor, that turn into a goal. When it happens more than once, everybody gets so down so quick. That seems to be our problem right now.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 10:41 PM with the headline "Thunder’s struggles continue."