In front of a crowd of 6,451 (did they come to see the Thunder or the Brahmas?) at the Kansas Coliseum, the visiting Texas Brahmas matched last season’s win total with four unanswered goals and handed the Thunder their fifth loss in a row in the process. Five different Texas Brahmas players scored goals last night as the team from North Richland Hills (40-14-5, 85 points) defeated the Wichita Thunder (19-37-3, 41 points) by a score of 5-2.
"Same old story," Thunder coach Brent Bilodeau told the Wichita Eagle. "We had some opportunities there in the second period and couldn't bury them, and they buried their opportunities...we made a couple mistakes, and they capitalized on them. They weren't big mistakes, but in the same sense they're little things that guys shouldn't be doing at this time of the year."
With a seven point lead over the Odessa Jackalopes, the Brahmas need just three points to clinch the Southern Conference’s top seed for the playoffs with five games remaining in the regular season. They remain tied with the Mississippi RiverKings and one point behind the Colorado Eagles in the race for the Governor's Cup. All three teams play again tonight.
The Brahmas opened the scoring in the first period when Nathan Saunders netted a power-play goal on Thunder goaltender John Daigneau with a low slapshot from the point at the 8:31 mark. Grant Jacobsen and Travis Banga were in on the assist. The Brahmas outshot the Thunder seven to five and carried the lead into the intermission.
Trailing 1-0, the Thunder came out in the second playing aggressive ice hockey and for the first half of the second period, they were having better-than-expected success against the Brahmas, scoring two goals on 12 shots early in the middle period.
Left wing Chris Tarkir tied the game on a backhand shot to the right of Brett Jaeger at the 2:35 mark. He was assisted by Mike Zbriger and former Brahma Marc Belanger. Then, at the 8:36 mark, center Troy Ofukany hit the back of the net, also with a backhander, providing Wichita their first and only lead at 2-1.
But it didn't take long for the Brahmas to wrestle control of the game away from the Thunder. Travis Banga scored on a turnover in the slot, ripping a wrist shot past
The lead held up until the 11:53 mark when an unassisted Travis Banga scored on a turnover in the slot, ripping a wrist shot past John Daigneau to tie the game at 2-2.
Just 29 seconds later, Matt Quinn tipped in a loose puck after Daigneau was pinned down on the right side of the crease to help Texas regain the lead at 3-2. Matt Burto and Greg McConnell were credited with the assist.
Late in the period, Nathan Saunders squared off with Thunder forward Devin Guy. Both would receive fighting majors.
Wichita outshot the Brahmas 12-3 in the period but the Brahmas finished with the 3-2 lead.
In the final period, the Brahmas’ defense preserved the lead, holding the Thunder to just three shots, while adding two more goals to finish them off.
After a roughing call on Thunder defenseman Curtiss Patrick, Pete Rouleau scored his sixth powerplay goal of the season on Daigneau, with the assist from Justin Kinnunen and Tyler Skworchinski. At the 8:28 mark it was 4-2 Brahmas.
Matt Burto notched his fifth goal of the season less than three minutes later on a set up by Kinnunen and Greg McConnell. The shot count was 9-3 in the final frame and the Brahmas came away with the 5-2 victory.
Jaeger stopped 18 of 20 shots to earn the victory. His record goes to 27-8-4-2.
The Brahmas went 2 for 7 on the powerplay. The Thunder went 0 for 3. The Brahmas were assessed 13 minutes on five infractions. The Thunder received 21 minutes on nine infractions.
The 3rd star went to Justin Kinnunen who had two assists on the night. The 2nd star went to Matt Burto who had a goal and an assist and the 1st star went to Travis Banga, who also had a goal and an assist.
You can view the box score here
The Brahmas returned home overnight to get some rest before tonight's divisional match-up against the Laredo Bucks (32-22-5, 69 points). The game starts at 7:05pm.
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