Thunder wins shootout with Kansas City, 8-5

Thursday, March 11, 1999 | 10:33 a.m.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Thirteen different players scored in the Las Vegas Thunder's 8-5 win over the Kansas City Blades Wednesday night in an International Hockey League game at Kemper Arena.

The Thunder and Utah Grizzlies are both trying to unseat Kansas City from the final Western Conference playoff berth.

Shawn Wansborough paced the Thunder (26-31-6) with the game-winning goal at 15:38 of the second period, and assists on earlier tallies by Ashley Buckberger and Ryan Mulhern.

Stefan Ustdorf also had a goal and two assists for Las Vegas. Mulhern, Lee Jinman, Russ Romaniuk and Scott Hollis each scored once and assisted on a second goal.

The Blades (32-27-5) started strong, taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Jean-Guy Trudel and David Ling within the first 3:17 of the game.

Tallies by Brendan Yarema and Vlastimil Kroupa left Kansas City clinging to a 4-3 lead at the intermission.

Goalie Petr Franek, who was pulled after allowing the first two KC goals but re-entered the game at the start of the second period, allowed only one more goal, a shorthanded effort by Jason Cirone late in the second.

Franek finished with 17 saves and the win. First-period substitute Konstantin Simchuk faced 11 shots and made nine saves.

Patrick Lalime stopped 20 of 27 for the Blades, and Greg Smith went two-for-two in a brief first-period relief stint.