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Thunder sinks Idaho

February 18, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Right wing Matt Foy and defenseman Ryan Lowery each scored a goal and added an assist to help the Stockton Thunder (24-21-5, 53 points) sink the Idaho Steelheads in a 3-2 victory before 5,039 fans at Stockton Arena on Friday.

The Thunder outshot Idaho 38-20, never trailed in the game and improved to 7-1-1 in the last nine home games, running its record to 4-3-1 in the season series over Idaho. Thunder rookie goaltender Thomas Heemskerk, making his first return to action since Dec. 26, boosted his record to 9-5-0 with 18 saves.

"We were dominant shots, we had two power play goals and everyone played well," said Thunder head coach Matt Thomas. "You take things by what you can improve on every night and that's a good lesson to learn when you still come out on top. Tonight was good for our power play because of our struggles in the past."

The win put the Thunder back into sole possession of fifth place in the Western Conference with 21 games to play.

The Thunder owned the first period with a 19-1 lead in shots after 20 minutes and parlayed back to back power play goals for a 2-0 lead, beginning with Lowery's first ECHL goal with 13:53 left when he finished Foy's rocket cross-ice pass at the right circle.

Lowery and Foy connected again with 9:29 left for a 2-0 Thunder edge, when Lowery fired a pass from the right point to Foy at the goal mouth, who ricocheted the puck over goaltender Jerry Kuhn's glove.

Patrick Kennedy shaved Idaho's deficit to 2-1 with 13:24 left in the second period on a power play goal, redirecting Cody Purves' wrist shot from the left circle through Heemskerk's five hole.

The Thunder had two high quality scoring chances to expand the lead but Kuhn turned them away on highlight reel saves. He stopped Kevin Baker at the right post on a feed from Chris D'Alvise and then stoned Martindale's deflection with the right pad on a redirection at the left post.

Martindale finally found the back of the net with 18.9 seconds left in the second period when he converted Mike Little's point feed at the goal mouth.

Idaho got back to within a goal, 3-2 on Aaron Lewicki's 13th goal of the season with 8:54 left in regulation when he buried a snap shot from the right circle to complete a 3-on-2 rush.

With the Thunder clamping down defensively and using a conservative approach late in the game, Heemskerk withstood Idaho's attack the rest of the way and the Thunder barely missed on two empty net chances, closing out the game.

Kuhn took his league leading 17th loss with a 35 save effort.

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