WICHITA, Kan. – Eagles are some of the most intense birds in the World. They are feisty and fierce, but on Tuesday night, a team of Eagles from Colorado flew into some Thunder in Wichita and did not fair so well as the home team posted a 7-6 shootout victory at the Intrust Bank Arena.
The rumble began when the Thunder’s Matt Robinson went to the box for hooking, resulting in an Eagles power play just 34 seconds into the game. 43 seconds later, Colorado defenseman Aaron Schneekloth sent a slick pass to Daymen Rycroft, who streaked by the Wichita defense, down the left side and fired a blast above Marc-Antoine Gelinas’ catching hand to take the 1-0 lead. It was Raycroft’s 26th ringer of the year, which tied him for the team lead with Kevin Ulanski.
Wichita answered just twenty-five seconds later, when Chris Greene and Robin Richards worked out a nifty passing play, eventually getting the puck to defenseman Steven Kaunisto who snapped a wrist shot over the blocker of Colorado goaltender Kyle Jones to tie the score.
The game remained tight with steady goaltending and good, end-to-end action until just over the halfway point of the period. Eagles sniper Ryan Nelson lit the lamp to break the tie and Colorado seemed to gain momentum until about a minute later when the turning point of the game occurred.
Battling for position to the left of the Colorado net, Alex Penner was defending against a rushing Thunder player when he took down his opponent with a mild spear and then after learning he was called for a penalty, jabbed him a little more for emphasis. Penner headed for the dressing room after being assessed a spearing major and a game misconduct.
Wichita took advantage of the resulting power play, three goals in the next six minutes as Lance Galbraith, Jesse Bennefield and Dustin Donaghy contributed to what became a 4-2 lead. Colorado was reeling from the long penalty-kill and weakened position in the game. The period ended with Wichita holding an edge in shots 14-7 and an all important two-goal lead heading into the second frame.
The middle period opened with end-to-end action with Colorado looking to get back into the game they once controlled before the three-goal power play. They managed to narrow the score at the 3:59 mark, when Dan Sullivan tapped in a rebound from Adam Chomeyko for his 10th of the season.
Wichita re-gained their two-goal lead when Dustin Donaghy accepted a saucer pass from Troy Schwab as he entered the slot and slipped the puck by Jones for his second goal of the game. Then, a late period Wichita power play led to a three-goal lead when Kory Scoran took possession of a rebound and wristed it past Jones for his 10th of the season. The 6-3 lead seemed comfortable for the home squad, but late in the period, Wichita became pre-occupied with physical play in the Colorado zone which allowed an odd-man rush with eight seconds to go.
Daymen Rycroft converted a simple passing play for his second of the night while most of the Thunder players were focused on battles at the other end of the ice. The Eagles now trailed 6-4 while Wichita maintained their lead in shots at 27-16.
That final play of the middle frame seemed to give Colorado life. Daymen Rycroft continued where he left off in the second period by completing the hat trick a little over four minutes into the third. With Robin Richards off the ice for roughing, Rycroft put the finishing touches on a side-to-side passing play to bring the Eagles within one goal of the Thunder.
Still, Colorado continued to put themselves in a tough spot with untimely penalties that killed the opportunity to tie the game. Finally, Kevin Ulanski knotted the score at six on a tip-in for his 27th tally of the season.
From that point on, each team had multiple chances but were unable to convert and regulation play ended with both teams showing six goals aside, but Wichita holding the edge in shots 35-28.
Overtime provided five minutes of back and forth action with good flow and tight goaltending which had been uncharacteristic during regulation. Each team had two good chances, but the game remained tied and would be determined by a shootout. Wichita held the edge in overtime shots 5-4.
Troy Schwab and Aaron Davis, the second and fourth shooters for the Thunder were the only players scoring goals in the shootout and Wichita came away with the 7-6 victory.
The flow of the game was hampered by penalties which interrupted the flow and broke up up any momentum either team could muster. In all, 42 minutes were assessed on 16 penalties, providing nine power play opportunities for Wichita and six for Colorado. Of the 12 regulation goals, seven were scored on the man-advantage.
Despite the loss, Colorado picked up a much needed point, putting them in a tie atop the Turner Conference with Rapid City, each with 70 points. The Eagles’ record stands at 33-18-4.
Meanwhile, Wichita continued to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot and improved their record to 27-20-6, good for sixth in the conference, 10 points off the leading teams. Contact the writer at dennis.morrell@prohockeynews.com
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