Thursday, April 4, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
ATLANTA -- Powered by two goals and an assist from Gregori Panteleyev, the Las Vegas Thunder clinched the International Hockey League's Southwest Division and Western Conference title with a 4-1 victory Wednesday night over the Atlanta Knights before 6,904 at The Omni.
The Southwest Division's second-place team, the Utah Grizzlies, lost to the Los Angeles Ice Dogs, 5-2.
The Thunder improved to 51-17-8, good for 110 points. It was the fourth consecutive road win for Las Vegas. Pokey Reddick posted the win in the nets for the Thunder, making 18 saves to stand 25-12-4.
Panteleyev put the Thunder on the scoreboard first with an unassisted short-handed goal at 7:31 of the first period, poking a loose puck past Atlanta goaltender J.C. Bergeron for his 23rd goal of the season.
Panteleyev gave Las Vegas a 2-0 advantage just 3:10 later, as Sergei Zholtok found him loose in front for a wrist shot which beat Bergeron at 10:41. The Thunder carried the 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Knights got back into the game with the lone goal of the second period, Peter White's 17th marker of the season from Drew Bannister and Mark Greig at 2:29.
Las Vegas put the game away with two unanswered goals in the third period. Ken Quinney scored his 31st goal of the season from Darcy Loewen at 5:30, capitalizing on a Bergeron misplay. Zholtok then completed the scoring, taking a feed from Panteleyev and scoring from in close at 10:13.
The Thunder outshot Atlanta 25-19, with neither team successful on the power play. Las Vegas, which improved its road record to 20-13-5, travels to Cleveland and Peoria for games Friday and Saturday.
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