Allen Americans End Eight-Game Skid With Road Win In Wichita

Prior to Saturday night’s game against Allen, the Wichita Thunder had gone 6-1-1 over their last eight games. The Americans, meanwhile, were on an eight-game losing streak.

Those numbers mattered little Saturday night. It was Allen who prevailed, beating the Thunder 4-2 at Intrust Bank Arena to move their overall record to 8-12-5.

It was the Thunder’s first home game since early December, and the loss dropped their record to 15-11-2.

Wichita jumped out to the early lead, scoring the only goal of the first period. Peter Bates notched his seventh of the season at 16:54 on a power play for a 1-0 Thunder lead. Allen did have the edge in shots on goal, 10-7.

Wichita increased their lead to 2-0 off a three-on-two break. Austin Heidemann took a feed from Kobe Walker and scored his sixth goal of the season on a back door play past Allen netminder Luke Richardson.

The Americans then mounted a comeback shortly thereafter. Nolan Orzeck scored his first goal of the season a minute later on a Wichita turnover to cut the Thunder lead to 2-1.

Three more goals followed for the Americans in the third period. Brayden Watts, who has made Intrust Bank Arena his personal playground by scoring there in every game since signing with Allen, tallied his ninth of the season on a one-timer near the slot to tie the score at 2-2.

Mark Duarte added a pair of goals late, the last one an empty-netter, giving the Americans a 4-2 victory and ending the eight-game slump.

Allen went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Thunder capitalized on only one of their six power-play chances.

The Americans wrap up their road trip Sunday afternoon in Tulsa against the Oilers, with puck drop at 3:05 Pm CT. It will be the final game for Allen before the Christmas break.

The Thunder will be off until Dec. 27, when the Idaho Steelheads make their first trip to the Air Capital.