Thunder Opens Road Swing with Loss at Iowa
Published on February 18, 2026 under ECHL (ECHL)
Wichita Thunder News Release
CORALVILLE, IA (Feb. 18) - Wichita opened a 12-game road trip on Wednesday night, falling to Iowa, 6-3, at Xtream Arena.
Peter Bates led the way for the Thunder with two points. Michal Stinil and Christophe Fillion also found the net in the losing effort. Matt Davis suffered the loss, stopping 37 shots.
Iowa opened the scoring six minutes into the game. Isaac Johnson fired a pass into the slot that redirected off the skate of Max Patterson and past Davis. The goal was reviewed for a potential kicking motion but was stood to make it 1-0.
Just over a minute later, Stinil tied the contest with his 14th of the campaign. He stole the puck from behind the net near the right post and slipped it past Riley Mercer.
At 11:12, Fillion gave Wichita its first lead of the contest. Matt Crasa outraced an icing in the right corner. He fed it across the slot and Fillion beat Mercer for his third of the campaign to make it 2-1.
Iowa scored the next four in the game and potted two in the first 1:26 of the second. Johnson tied the game at:53, beating Davis from the slot for his fifth of the year.
Kelti-Jeri-Leon re-gained the lead for the Heartlanders at 1:26. Davis made a save kicking off the right post, but the long rebound went right to Jeri-Leon. He popped it past the Thunder netminder over the right shoulder to make it 3-2.
Thomas Stewart increased the lead to 4-2 at 2:41 of the third. He was left all alone in the slot and fired home his eighth of the year.
Liam Coughlin connected at 13:25 to make it 5-2. He outmuscled a Wichita defender at the left post and slammed home a rebound.
Bates made it 5-3 at 14:36. T.J. Lloyd made a great play to hold the blue line and fired it the puck back towards the net. Bates made a great stickhandling move and slipped it inside the left post from behind the goal line for his 16th of the campaign.
Wichita had one late power play when Dylan Massie was called for a delay of game but couldn't get much going on the opportunity.
Jaxon Nelson found an empty net at 18:18 to close the scoring and give the home team a 6-3 victory.
Bates extended his point-streak to six games with a goal and an assist. Stinil has five points in his last three games. Dickman has points in his last four with five helpers over that span. Fillion recorded his first goal in a Thunder uniform.
Wichita went 0-for-3 on the power play. Iowa was 0-for-1 on the man advantage.
The Thunder heads to Independence, Missouri on Friday night to begin a two-game set against Kansas City. Faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m.
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