Wichita, KS (Jan. 5th) – Six different players found the net to help Wichita skate past Quad City by the final of 6-3 on Friday night at INTRUST Bank Arena. With the win, Wichita improves to 21-10-2-0 and has won three games in a row.
Travis Brown finished with two points and Nick Bligh collected three helpers in the victory. Shane Starrett made 27 saves to grab his 11th win of the year.
The only goal of the first period came from Ralph Cuddemi three minutes to go in the frame. He caught a head-man pass from Beaudry, cut through the slot off the rush and wristed a shot past Matt O’Connor’s blocker.
Quad City opened the second period with a goal from Triston Grant just a minute in and tied the game at one. Colin Martin and Chad Butcher scored 39 seconds apart and quickly gave the Thunder a two-goal advantage, up 3-1. Martin, in his Thunder debut, got to the front of the net and put home a loose puck to make it 2-1. Butcher beat O’Connor from the left circle with a wrist shot, registering his fourth of the year.
The two teams combined for five goals in the third period. Brown wired a one-timer at 2:10 to make it 4-1. Gergo Nagy cut the lead to 4-2 at 3:59 with his first since returning to Quad City. Kevin Dufour made it 5-2 with a beautiful end-to-end rush at 4:25. That would do it for O’Connor as he was lifted and Eric Hartzell came in. Four minutes later, Matt Pohlkamp cut through the slot and beat Starrett to make it 5-3. Hartzell headed to the bench with just under two minutes left. Lane Bauer was able to get to the red line and scored into the empty net and iced the contest.
12 different players tallied points. Brown recorded a goal, an assist and was a +5. Dufour extended his point-streak to five games (3g, 3a) and registered his seventh of the year. Cuddemi added his 12th of the season and is one shy of the team-lead.
Wichita went 0-for-1 on the power play. Quad City was 0-for-1 on the man advantage.
With Wichita Thunder release
Contact the photographer: Ed.Bailey@prohockeynews.com
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