Dragons blow by Thunder

Thursday, March 13, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Andre Racicot faced a mere 18 shots but couldn't stop four of them as the San Antonio Dragons defeated the Las Vegas Thunder, 4-1, Wednesday night before a paltry crowd of 3,701 at the Freeman Coliseum.

Between the other pipes, Dragons goaltender David Littman was a rock. He got bombarded with 37 shots and saved 36.

San Antonio made the most of its few opportunities in the first period as it scored two goals on just three shots. Brian Glynn opened scoring on the Dragons' second shot of the game at 11:35 of the first period. One more shot meant one more goal for Todd Reardon, who put the Dragons ahead 2-0 at 15:41.

After a scoreless second period, the Thunder finally got on the scoreboard with a power play goal from Ken Quinney 2:28 into the third period, cutting the Dragons' lead to 2-1. Quinney converted Patrice Lefebvre's team-leading 55th assist by nailing a one-timer past Littman for his 25th goal of the season. Steve Bancroft also was credited with an assist on the play, which extended the Thunder's streak of scoring a power-play goal to five games.

Less than a minute later, the Dragons regained their two-goal advantage when Dave MacIntyre skated alone along the right boards and smacked a shot past Racicot to make the score 3-1. Former Thunder forward Dan Shank offered the lone assist on MacIntyre's 12th goal, giving him at least one assist in each of San Antonio's last five games and 76 points on the season.

Lonnie Loach gave the Dragons a three-goal advantage 9:38 into the third period, his 22nd goal on the season.

The rest of the game was uneventful while the clock was running. But fireworks exploded when San Antonio center Len Barrie went after Las Vegas rookie defenseman Ryan Bast, who seconds earlier checked Shank to the ice. After each dropped their gloves, Bast dropped Barrie with one punch to the head. Then Shank committed one of the biggest no-nos in hockey by becoming the third man in. He received two game misconducts and likely faces a suspension from the league.

Las Vegas fell to 33-27-6 with the loss, while San Antonio rose to 37-24-6.