WICHITA, KS – Wichita closed its home portion of 2019 in style, skating past Kansas City by the final of 5-2 on Monday night at INTRUST Bank Arena.
Peter Crinella scored twice while three others found the back of the net. Evan Weninger earned his fifth win of the season, stopping 35 shots.
Crinella got things started at 7:34 when he put a wrap-around past Tyler Parsons to make it 1-0. Kansas City tied it up less than three minutes later as Rocco Carzo popped a rebound over Weninger for his 13th of the year.
Early in the second, Chris Crane scored his 11th of the year to make it 2-1. He found a loose puck off a shot that went wide off the back wall just 46 seconds in and potted the go-ahead goal.
The Thunder tacked on three in the third period to pull away. Crinella scored his second of the night just nine seconds into the frame when he stole the puck off the boards and beat Parsons over the shoulder to make it 3-1. Three minutes later, Fabrizio Ricci increased the lead to 4-1. He caught a long-lead pass from Riley Weselowski, skated past the defenseman and scored while he was getting hauled to the ice. Jason Salvaggio found the back of the net at 9:37 to make it 5-1. Kansas City added a late goal from Jack Walker, but the Thunder won going away.
Crinella finished with two goals for the second time in the last six games. Crane and Ricci each had a goal and an assist and Desharnais recorded two assists.
Wichita heads to Kansas City Tuesday night to close out the decade with another meeting in the Independence Cup Series at 7:05 p.m.
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