The Stockton Thunder celebrated New Year’s Eve by snapping a six-game winless streak on Saturday night (Dec. 31).
After blowing a third-period lead for the third time in four games and failing to score on a power play in overtime, the Thunder managed to escape with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Ontario Reign in front of an appreciative crowd of 6,044 at Stockton Arena.
The Thunder (13-13-4) was led offensively by Kevin Baker, who scored two goals, and Milan Kytnar, who had a goal in regulation time and then produced the only goal of the shootout. Ontario (15-12-3) got goals from Bill Bagron, Derek Couture and Kevin Estrada.
“It was a good feeling,” Baker said of stopping the Thunder's longest winless stretch of the season. “We wanted to do it in regulation (time). We gave them another point, but the guys worked hard and battled and we got the job done.”
Thunder goalie Olivier Roy was perfect in the shootout, stopping all five Ontario shooters to earn his first home-ice win of the season. Kytnar gave Roy all the support he would need in the shootout by beating Ontario goalie Chris Carrozzi in the fourth round. The decision allowed Roy and the Thunder to avenge a shootout loss to Carrozzi and the Reign from one night earlier.
“I think he was pretty upset with the way it went (Friday) night and that he didn’t close (that game) out for us,” Thunder Coach Matt Thomas said of Roy, who finished with 26 saves in improving his overall record to 5-8-4. “He certainly did it tonight.”
Before producing the only goal of the shootout, Kytnar staked the Thunder to a 3-2 lead when he scored on a rebound with the teams skating 4-on-4 not quite five minutes into the third period. The lead evaporated when Estrada scored with 4:04 remaining to send the game to overtime.
“If we would have won it in regulation, it would have felt more rewarding,” said Thomas, who praised the play of defensemen Tony DeHart and Nathan Deck in addition to that of Baker, Kytnar and Roy. “But it’s one of those things. We’ve been working pretty hard during this stretch, and just to get the win is a good feeling. We needed a win, and we needed it in a bad way.”
Getting the victory was a reversal of recent form for the Thunder, which had fallen into a pattern of failing to close out games after taking leads while going 0-5-1 during the six-game winless skid.
“That has been our Achilles heel,” said Baker, whose two goals increased his team-leading total to 15 for the season. “We’ve got to figure it out as a team and find a way to be that team where if we’re in the lead in the third period, we know we’re going to win the game.”
Baker accounted for the only goal of the first period when he was able to score from near the left post after a slap shot by Jesse Fraktin bounced off the boards behind the net. The Reign took a 2-1 lead early in the second period on goals by Bagron and Couture, but Baker struck again with 6:02 left in the period to leave the teams in a 2-2 tie at the second intermission.
Baker’s second-period goal came after he took a pass in the neutral zone from Jordan Foreman and blew past Ontario defenseman Sean Murray for a clear run at Carrozzi.
“I just kind of buried my head and dropped the shoulder and went to the net,” said Baker, who has 12 points in his past 10 games. “It was a nice pass by Foreman that sent me in wide and I cut in and beat the goalie.”
Moments before Baker’s second goal, Roy prevented the Reign from establishing a two-goal advantage when he made a dazzling glove save on a shot by C.J. Stretch.
With the victory, the Thunder closed to within three points of the second-place Reign in the ECHL Pacific Division standings. Stockton begins a five-game road trip with games against the Bakersfield Condors on Jan. 6-7. The Thunder won’t play at home again until Jan. 20, when the Las Vegas Wranglers visit Stockton Arena for the first of three games in as many nights.
