First period outburst pushes Wichita past Rapid City

Wichita, KS – Wichita exploded for five goals in the span of nine minutes and cruised to a 5-2 victory on Sunday afternoon over Rapid City at INTRUST Bank Arena.

Kyle Platzer led the way with three points (2 goals, 1 assist) while Guillaume Asselin and Travis Brown each had two assists.

Jeremy Beaudry got things started just two minutes in as he hammered a one-timer from the left circle on the power play to make it 1-0. The Thunder offense poured it on at the six-minute mark, scoring three times in less than two minutes. During a penalty kill, Platzer intercepted a pass at the Thunder line, stepped away from the Rapid City defense and beat Christian Frey at 6:06 to make it 2-0. His goal was the first shorthanded tally of the season.

Travis Ewanyk banged home a centering feed from Matt DeBlouw at 7:12 to make it 3-0. Right after his goal went in, he was jumped by Michael Sdao and Wichita was awarded a five-minute major power play. Wichita scored quickly at the eight-minute mark as a Brown shot was tipped out of the air by Platzer and the score ballooned to 4-0. Dyson Stevenson got into the act at 11:25 as Asselin fed it across to him at the left post and he fired it home to make it 5-0.

Rapid City found the net in the second period at 7:06 when Darik Angeli shoveled home a pass across the slot to make it 5-1.

In the third, Alex Kromm put home a loose puck at 5:24 to cut the lead to 5-2. The Rush had a few other chances, including a breakaway from Angeli that was stopped by Shane Starrett. The rookie netminder claimed his second pro win as the Thunder’s early start was too much for the Rush to overcome.

The Thunder power play snapped a scoreless skid, netting two on the man advantage and one shorthanded. Wichita netted a goal five-on-five and

four-on-four to go along with the special teams’ tallies. Platzer (2 goals, 1 assist) and Matt DeBlouw (1 assist) extended their point streaks to four games. Starrett stopped 27 of 29 for the win. Frey was chased after allowing three goals on six shots.

Wichita went 2-for-6 on the power play. Rapid City was 1-for-5 on the man advantage.

The Thunder hits the road for the first time this season to take on the Tulsa Oilers on Wednesday night in the StoneWolf Casino Cup Series.