Jesse Bennefield Leads Thunder to Exhibition Win


Thunder Offense Roars in Exhibition
 
WICHITA, KS- The Wichita Thunder outslugged the Tulsa Oilers 7-6 in their preseason opener at the Wichita Ice Center on Friday night.

Box Score

Five Thunder players had multi-point games, including Jesse Bennefield who netted two goals and an assist.

Bennefield earned credit for the eventual game-winning goal, hitting an empty net from the left point at 19:04 in the third period.  The score gave the Thunder a 7-5 lead, but the Oilers pulled within 7-6 on a close-range shot from Matt Larke with just over 11 seconds left in regulation.  Wichita recovered defensively and closed out the win, highlighted by Lance Galbraith's aggressive block of an attempted outlet pass.

Rusty Masters gave Tulsa a 1-0 lead just over three minutes into the game.  Masters snuck a rebound in front of the crease past Thunder goaltender Ian Keserich.

Peter Stevens tied the game at 9:13 when he tipped in a rebound past Oilers' netminder Sylvain Michaud.  Wichita took its first lead of the night excatly three minutes later on Bobby Hughes' shot from the slot.

The Oilers tied the game at the 14:37 mark in the first, but the Thunder regained the lead 21 seconds into the second period on Bennefield's first goal of the night.

The teams traded goals twice more until the Thunder snagged the lead for good at 3:29 in the third when Chris Falloon took advantage of a breakaway and fired a shot from the right hash mark that beat new Tulsa goaltender Tyler Sims to his left.

Falloon also had two assists in addition to the goal, while Hughes and Brent Cullaton each scored a goal and an assist.  Matt Hubbauer chipped in three assists for the Thunder.

Keserich stopped 18 of 21 before giving way to Mark Sibbald at 10:16 in the second period who saved eight of 11 to earn the win.  Michaud saved 17 of 21.  Sims, who also took over at 10:16 in the second, saved 15 of 17 and took the loss.

Ryan Hand and Jason Goulet each picked up fighting majors.  The Thunder outshot Tulsa 39-32 for the game.  Wichita did not score seven goals in a game at any point in 2009-10.



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