Colorado scores big win over Thunder

The Thunder held a jersey auction after a 6-0 loss to Colorado on Friday night, and many players smiled as they held up their sweaters for display to the bidders.

Maybe they were faking it. Or maybe they were happy about ridding themselves of the reminders of another lopsided defeat.

Wichita (10-28-4-4) surrendered four first-period goals to take the anticipation out of the Intrust Bank Arena crowd of 8,226 and allowed at least five goals for the 13^th time in 46 games. Since winning at home against Evansville on Jan. 27, the Thunder has been outscored 13-3 in three consecutive losses.

More troubling than Wichita’s inability to turn wins into momentum — the Thunder has won two games in a row three times this year but never three straight — is the fact that it can’t stop losing once it has started.

All of the Thunder’s 36 losses have come during skids of three or more games. Wichita has also lost four (twice), six, seven and nine games.

“You get on a streak – we need to get on another streak, it’s called a win streak,” Thunder coach Kevin McClelland said. “…It just seems like every night something different happens.”

The variable on Friday was that Colorado goaltender Eric Levine stopped all 36 Thunder shots and his counterpart, Wichita’s David Shantz, was removed after allowing three goals in the first 15-plus minutes.

The Thunder spent the rest of the game trying to avoid allowing the outcome to reach those among the most lopsided of the season. It tied the six-goal defeat at the hands of Missouri on Dec. 31, but the Thunder scored in that game.

Friday’s was the Thunder’s worst shutout, fifth of the season and first since Colorado beat Wichita 4-0 on Dec. 12.

“Their goaltender stood pretty tall on some of those, we hit the crossbar,” McClelland said. “You just can’t keep saying that night in and night out. We’ve just got to find a way to get some wins. A lot is at stake for everybody. If these guys want to continue playing the game of hockey, they’ve got to find ways to show that they can fight through this adversity.”

Colorado’s Peter MacIntyre had what is known as a Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, an assist and a fight. Thunder forward Logan Nelson had a conventional hat trick on Jan. 27 but left the following game with an injury, another example of the Thunder’s failure to sustain good vibes.

There are moments during these losses when it appears the Thunder players are psychologically affected by the seemingly irreversible negativity. McClelland wants to keep that from continued manifestation.

“You hope not,” McClelland said. “They’re pro athletes – you’ve got to fight through adversity. The only way you’re going to get out of this is if you work hard. We (recently) had three days off, so we didn’t work hard. Not the right time to have three days off.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Colorado scores big win over Thunder."