WICHITA, Kan. (Jan. 11) – Bruce Ramsay earned his 400th career win as a pro head coach on Saturday night as his team shut down Kansas City, 4-0, at INTRUST Bank Arena.Mitch Gillam stopped 16 shots to earn his second shutout of the season. Shaquille Merasty, Beau Starrett, Chris Crane and Ostap Safin each found the net.
Wichita has had a knack of hopping out to early leads on Kansas City at home and did so again tonight. Jason Salvaggio made a terrific pass at 3:18 of the first period to find Crane for a tap-in goal to make it 1-0. At 6:30, Safin threaded the needle to find Starrett at the left post and he potted a power play goal to make it 2-0.
Merasty, who joined the team last night, made his presence felt throughout the game. He was all over the ice and netted his third of the season at 6:18 of the second to make it 3-0. He cut across the grain, got past a defenseman and wired one past Nick Schneider’s glove.
In the third, Safin tallied his 12th of the year on the power play to make it 4-0. Spencer Dorowicz stole the puck near the right circle in his own zone, skated up on a 5-on-1 break, dished it off to Starrett. He found Safin across to the left post and he tapped it in.
Wichita recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time since December 10 and 11, 1998. Wichita equaled a season-high with two power play goals. The Thunder held the Mavericks to just 16 shots, which is a new season-low for an opponent in a game. Starrett and Safin each recorded a goal and an assist. Salvaggio has points in four-straight. Crane recorded his 12th of the season. Gillam recorded his second shutout of the season and eighth of his career.
The Thunder closes out a busy week tomorrow afternoon in Tulsa starting at 4:05 p.m.
With Wichita Thunder release
