Wichita earns rare road victory, drops SteelHounds in shootout

Youngstown earned five points out of a possible six in the three-game series.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- Joe Blaznek's goal, the only shot that registered for either team in the shootout, lifted the Wichita Thunder to a 6-5 victory over the Youngstown SteelHounds in a Central Hockey League game Sunday at the Chevrolet Centre.
The win helped the Thunder salvage the finale of their three-game weekend series with the SteelHounds, ending a two-game skid in the process while they won for just the eighth time in 26 road outings this season.
"It would have been nice to get the sweep, but we'll settle for five out of a possible six points anytime," said SteelHounds coach Kevin Kaminski. "On our board in the locker room we have a sign that says, 'Don't be satisfied -- be greedy.'
"By that we mean we want an all-out effort and tonight, despite falling behind by two goals in each of the first two periods, that effort was definitely there. "Tonight's performance shows you exactly what we have in our locker room. We played well enough to get the win, but battled back to still salvage a point."
Kaminski said the SteelHounds "showed plenty of hustle all weekend. With 19 games still remaining, all are against divisional foes so we have to be on our toes each time out because it is a four-point night every time step onto the ice. We cannot afford to take a night off."
Coming back
The SteelHounds trailed 2-1 after the first period and 4-2 heading into the final stanza.
Scott Rozendal's goal at 10:23 gave the Thunder a 1-0 lead, but Mark Odut's third goal of the season at 12:37 knotted the score before Ryan Lauzon's power play tally just 48 seconds later made it 2-1 Wichita.
The Thunder increased their lead to 3-1 on a power play goal by Kris Wiebe at 6:03 of the second period, but Jeff Alcombrack's sixth goal of the season at 14:20 then cut the Wichita margin to 3-2 in the period.
When Ryan McLean added his fourth goal of the season just 35 seconds before the intermission, the Thunder had a 4-2 lead.
Back-to-back shorthanded goals by Matt Hanson (5:30) and Kelly Sickavish (6:13) enabled the SteelHounds to forge a 4-all tie, but a shorthanded score by Travis Clayton at 11:05 helped the Thunder regain the lead.
Brad Patterson's 12th goal of the year at 12:37 knotted the score at 5. Neither team scored in overtime.
Showing character
"We battled back and showed plenty of character tonight. Every game from here on out is a huge one for us and if we play like we did tonight, then we will see positive results," Hanson said.
"It was nice to get my first goal with the SteelHounds, but give credit to their goalie [Andrew Martin] because he did an excellent job around the net all night. With 40 saves, he sure was busy around the net."
Both teams failed to connect on their first four opportunities of the shootout and when Youngstown was unable to score on their fifth try, Blaznek's score secured the win.
Youngstown (23-16-9) held a 45-16 shots on goal advantage, failing to connect on seven opportunities when they had the man advantage.
The Thunder (21-21-6), held without a power play goal in the first two games of the series, were 2-of-5 when they were up a man.
Youngstown travels to Wichita Wednesday night at 8:05.