Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Thunder return to Las Vegas

It's nothing fancy, but it's home.

And the Las Vegas Thunder is glad to be back. After an 35-day, 11-game road swing, the Thunder finally returns to the Thomas & Mack Center tonight. They will face the Milwaukee Admirals at 7:05.

"It's tough being on the road that long," Thunder defenseman Steve Bancroft said after Monday's practice at the Santa Fe Ice Arena. "You start to get sick of the guys."

Las Vegas started its trip strong at 4-1, including four straight victories. But it finished in frustration at 0-2-2. The Thunder's last three games included a shutout and back-to-back shootout losses.

"We learned a lot on the road," Bancroft said. "If you can win on the road, you can win anywhere. It's just unfortunate we had a few pseudo-losses. There were some we just out-and-out gave away."

The Thunder was in fourth place in the five-team Southwest Division when it hit the road. It returned in the same spot with an 18-14-5 record for 41 points. Houston is 27-10-4 and in first place with 58 points.

But the Thunder's big edge now is the T&M. It will skate on its shoebox rink for 30 of its remaining 45 regular-season games.

"We need to take care of business," head coach Chris McSorley said. "We have games in hand, and we have home-ice advantage. We need to capitalize on our opportunities. Otherwise our toils on the road are fruitless."

One of the critical pluses in playing at the T&M is its small ice surface. After spreading out on regulation rinks throughout the IHL, the Thunder now can load up for its 185-foot surface.

That makes for a more physical approach, as evidenced by the recent acquisitions of intimidating forwards Jamie Linden and Trent McCleary.

Linden (6-foot-3, 185 pounds), the younger brother of NHL all-star Trevor Linden, played briefly with Florida of the NHL in 1994-95. In 48 games with Grand Rapids of the IHL last season he recorded eight goals, eight assists and 138 penalty minutes.

McCleary (6-foot, 185 pounds) played the past two seasons in the NHL with Ottawa and Boston, totaling seven goals, 15 assists and 101 penalty minutes in 134 games.

"Darcy Loewen, Barry Potomski, Jaime Linden and Trent McCleary are key elements to the health and success of this hockey team," said McSorley.

The physical forwards will not be counted on to score. They will, however, be expected to overwhelm the opposition using the T&M's limited dimensions.

"We've got a very, very physical team," McSorley said. "The toughness we have is a detriment to other teams wanting to play us physical, which allows our scorers to score when our hitters are hitting."

The first scoring line of center Jesse Belanger, right wing Patrice Lefebvre and left wing Ken Quinney might be the most formidable in the IHL.

Belanger leads the league in goals with 24 in 29 games but is returning from an injured left knee tonight. Lefebvre leads the league in scoring with 13 goals and 40 assists in 33 games.

"As long as they obtain scoring chances and we play sound defensively, we're not going to change our game," McSorley said.

Tim Cheveldae will start in goal tonight. He is 5-4-3 with a 3.33 goals-against average and a .888 save percentage.

Top goaltender Manny Legace (10-8-1, 2.72, .922) is expected to be out of action at least one more week with a pulled hamstring suffered Dec. 28 in Chicago. Alexander Simchuk, who played seven games early in the season while Legace served a suspension, was called up from Tacoma of the West Coast Hockey League as a replacement.

Thunderbolts

* GENDRON RETURNS: Tonight's game marks the return of Martin Gendron to the Thomas & Mack Center. The slick right winger led the Las Vegas Thunder with 51 goals last season before leaving for the NHL. Gendron was sent by the Chicago Blackhawks to Milwaukee last month. He was shut out in two games with the Blackhawks but scored 14 points in 17 games with their top affiliate, the Indianapolis Ice. In his first 12 games with the Admirals he recorded six goals and four assists.

* PRECINCT CLOSED: The Thunder's home deprivation hurt it in balloting for the IHL all-star game. With fewer of its fans casting votes, no Thunder player ranks among the top four at his position in the Eastern Conference balloting that runs through Sunday. Patrice Lefebvre, the IHL's scoring leader with 53 points, is fifth among wingers with 2,994 votes. Steve Bancroft is fifth among the 15 defensemen. Ken Quinney is 15th out of 20 listed wingers. Goaltender Manny Legace and center Joe Day are next-to-last among the nine candidates at their respective positions. ... Legace's 1,499-vote total is 97 more than that of defenseman John Slaney, who has played only five games with Las Vegas. ... Center Jesse Belanger was omitted from the ballot because he joined the Thunder late. ... Former Thunder defenseman Kevin Dahl, who now plays for the Chicago Wolves, leads all defensemen with 4,447 votes. Another Las Vegas alumnus now with Chicago, Alexander Semak, paces Eastern Conference centers with 3,266 votes.

* LOOSE PUCKS: The Thunder has allowed 40 or more shots five times in its last 10 games. Opponents are averaging 37.8 shots over that span. ... Left wing Jeff Christian has 17 points and has scored in all but six of his 17 games this season. ... Belanger has seven multigoal games. ... Right wing Rob Pattison has recorded all 11 of his goals and 17 of his 20 points away from the T&M. ... Steve Bancroft ranks second among IHL defenseman in points with 38.

archive