Missouri outlasts Wichita 2-1, sends series to deciding game five

WICHITA, Kan. – The Missouri Mavericks came into Wichita Tuesday night with one objective – win game four and force a deciding game five tonight in Independence. The Mavericks accomplished their goal, as they defeated the Thunder 2-1 in a wild battle in front of 3,007 fans at Intrust Bank Arena. As the first period got underway it became clear that this would be a night where goals would be hard to come by. The two squads failed to score in the first period, despite a combined 24 shots on goal. Wichita held a 14-10 edge on shots in the opening period, but they were turned back on several scoring chances by Missouri goalie Robby Nolan. The Thunder out-shot the Mavericks 39-30 but could only solve Nolan once as he held off 38 shots on goal. Nolan’s counterpart from Wichita, Marc-Antoine Gelinas, stopped 28 of 30 Mavericks’ shots in the loss. The battle intensified in the middle frame, with Missouri doubling Wichita’s shot total, 16-8. Mid-way through the second things finally reached a breaking point as the two teams combined to score three times in just 1:04 of playing time. Missouri’s Toby Lafrance broke the scoring drought at the 8:43 mark, as he fired a wrist shot from near the left face-off dot that sailed past Gelinas into the right side of the net. Cole Ruwe and Shawn Fensel picked up the assists on Lafrance’s second goal in the best-of-five playoff series.

55-seconds later, Nick Sirota slipped home a centering pass from Jared Lavender to increase the Mavericks lead to 2-0 with Nathan O’Nabigon being credited with the secondary assist. Missouri may have thought they had gained some breathing room, but nine seconds later Wichita would again make things interesting. Jesse Bennefield battled for the puck with Ruwe behind Nolan’s net before slipping out to the bottom of the right circle as the puck bounced to Brent Cullaton. Cullaton then sent a soft pass out front to Bennefield who found the back of the net, cutting Missouri’s lead in half. Troy Schwab was given the secondary assist on the play. The Thunder would have four power play chances in the final period, but Nolan closed the door on 17 Wichita shots to secure the one-goal win. Game five of the series will take place tonight at the Independence Events Center, with the opening face-off scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Each team has picked up one win in the previous two meetings in Independence, including a 5-4 overtime win for Wichita in game three. Contact the author at john.hall@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer at daniel.russell@prohockeynews.com