Thunder win out in scoreless affair

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The Perth Thunder managed to find the one goal needed to take the win against the Mustangs, on home ice Sunday at Perth Ice Arena.

With neither team managing to find the back of the net through both regulation time and the AIHL’s first overtime period, the game was eventually decided in a five-round shootout with Rob Haselhurst getting the all-important goal. It was his first since returning to the team from a stint in Newcastle with the Northstars last season.

The game was a defensive matchup right from the get-go. Both teams looked to shut down their own end, making it hard for either squad to find a way to finish any of the chances they were awarded, through three periods of strong play by both the Thunder and Mustang sides.

After the Thunder took a tough loss in their season opener the night before, Thunder Captain Jamie Woodman said the team just needed to reset and re-focus on the way they needed to play to have success.

"We learned our lesson after yesterday and I felt like all the guys managed to reset and bounce back today. I felt like the local guys who played today were unreal and everyone was buying in early to the idea that we could bounce back and find a way to win this one," Woodman said.

The local players for the Thunder indeed stepped up with the loss of two out of three import forwards throughout the course of the game. Louick Marcotte was the first to go, after being given a five minute major penalty for Butt ending Mustangs forward Jamie Bourke during a scrum in front of the net. Next to go was import Ben Breault after he was boarded by Bourke later on in that same period. He continued to play on, but was sidelined after the end of the second period leaving the local Thunder players to pick up the slack and find a way to grind out the win.

Thunder goalie Nico Viksten played an impressive game, as did Jaden Pine-Murphy for the Mustangs, both of whom recorded regulation shut outs. It was also the second of back-to-back shut outs for Pine-Murphy. However, both teams defensively played very well in front of their goaltender and it was no surprise that the game took as long as it did to find a goal, finally ending the contest and giving the Thunder their first win of the 2019 season.

Mustangs' assistant coach Jon Moses seemed disappointed after the loss despite receiving a point in the process but were pleased with how the weekend went.

“I think we had a better run of the play and we needed to take advantage of the opportunity in front of us. They were a couple imports down and you have to credit the local boys for Perth who stepped up and played well," Moses said.

"I think we had 40 odd shots in that game and even though their goalie played an exceptional game, I think we needed to try and grind it out and find those second chances instead of just taking a shot on net and letting him make a save."

"Tonight we struggled a bit to transition the puck as well as yesterday and we ran into a great goalie performance.”

Prior to the game being decided in a shootout, both teams played the league’s first ever period of 3-on-3 overtime and it seemed like a welcome change to years gone by. Both sides seemed to have enjoyed the chance to get out there and play 3-on-3 hockey. 

"It’s a lot of fun out there, there’s a lot of space to move and even though it can be crazy and guys go end to end it also gives guys a chance to go out and be offensive and potentially have the game riding on their stick, so it’s a great atmosphere to play in” Woodman said.

With the weekend’s games split at one win a piece, the Mustangs head to a bye week with the Thunder moving on to play against both the Northstars and Ice dogs as they hope to continue to turn their game around after a tough start to the 2019 AIHL season at home was softened by a hard fought win today.