WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita (25-20-2-5) got back on track Friday night, knocking off Brampton (17-33-2-0) by the final score of 4-1 at INTRUST Bank Arena. Four different Thunder players found the net while a solid defensive effort helped Tim Boron to his 19th win of the season. The Thunder improve to 2-1-0-0 in the season-series and will play Brampton three times in Canada one week from tonight.
Eric Meland led all scorers with two points while Danick Gauthier, Ian Duval, Kirill Tulupov and Nikita Kashirsky found the net for the Thunder.
Each team lit the lamp in the first period. Duval scored at 8:06 to put Wichita up 1-0. Meland found him open after keeping the puck in at the Beast line and Duval outlasted Trevor Cann for his 10th of the season. At 12:58, Chad Painchaud recorded his 23rd of the year and fourth of the week with a shot from the left circle with assists to Justin Donati and David Ling.
The Thunder dominated the second period, outshooting the Beast 21-7 in the frame. Gauthier recorded his 21st of the year at 15:08, which would eventually hold up as the game-winner. Cann got caught out of the net and Gauthier slipped it past several defenders to make it 2-1. Boron didn’t see a lot of rubber, but made a fine save on a Jason Pitton breakaway chance that helped Wichita take a 2-1 lead into the intermission.
In the third, Wichita pulled away with two goals from their Russian contingent. Tulupov increased the lead to 3-1 with a power play tally at 1:45. He had a few chances earlier in the shift, but finally put a wrist shot past Cann from the top of the right circle for his sixth of the year. With time winding down, Jared Walker intercepted a pass at the top of the left circle in his own end, fed it up ahead and Kashirsky finished it into the empty net with his 12th of the season at 19:24.
Wichita finally broke through against Brampton on the power play, scoring its first of the season-series in the third. Gauthier pushed his scoring streak to six games, tallying nine points in that span (4g, 5a). Kashirsky has goals in three-straight and points in his last four (3g, 2a). Tulupov recorded his third power play goal of the year, which accounts for half of his season-total. Boron took the victory in his ninth-straight start, stopping 26 of 27 shots. Cann suffered his 16th loss of the season, stopping 34 of 37 shots he faced.
Wichita went 1-for-3 on the man advantage. Brampton went 0-
Wichita is off tomorrow night, but will return to action on Sunday afternoon as the Allen Americans come to town starting at 5:05 p.m.
With Wichita Thunder team release
Contact the photographer: Ed.Bailey@prohockeynews.com
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