INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – On a night where goals were few and far between, Wichita (4-5-0-0) couldn’t break through with a late charge on Saturday night and fell at the hands of the Missouri Mavericks (7-2-0-1) by the final of 1-0 at Silverstein Eye Center Arena. The loss drops the Thunder below .500 and down 0-3-0-0 in the Independence Cup Series.
The only goal of the game came at 3:32 of the opening period. After Tyler Barnes raced up ice and was denied on a breakaway, Jesse Root found some room down the slot and dished it off to Matt Finn for the one-timer. It was Finn’s first game with the Mavericks after being sent down from Bridgeport earlier in the day.
Wichita started to generate some chances in the second, but couldn’t solve Parker Milner. The Thunder unloaded 13 shots, including several quality chances from Danick Gauthier.
Late in the third, Trevor Ludwig was called for a five-minute boarding penalty that gave Wichita a power play with less than a minute to go. David Shantz was lifted for the extra attacker that gave the Thunder a five-on-three situation. Milner was up to the task and the Mavericks held on for the 1-0 victory.
Gauthier finished with a season-high seven shots on net. Wichita outshot the Mavericks 25-20, which is the second time this season the Thunder had more shots than its opponent. Shantz suffers his third loss of the season, stopping 19 of 20 shots. Milner earns his second win of the year, stopping all 25 shots he faced.
The Thunder will close out the weekend on Sunday afternoon against the Mavericks starting at 5:05 p.m.
With Wichita Thunder team release
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