The Wichita Thunder lost 5-0 to the Missouri Mavericks in Game Two of the Opening Round at the Independence Events Center on Friday night.
The best-of-five series is now tied 1-1 heading into Game Three on Saturday night.
Brandon Coccimiglio scored a natural hat trick in the third, with all three goals coming on the power play, while Rob Nolan pitched his second shutout of the season against the Thunder, going 30 of 30.
Leading 2-0 in the third, Coccimiglio scored at 5:57 on a close-range shot past Marc-Antoine Gelinas. The Mavericks went up 4-0 at 12:35 when Coccimiglio re-directed Blake Forsyth's shot from the left point past Gelinas' right. Coccimiglio completed the hat trick with 13.5 seconds left in the game, sneaking a loose puck under Gelinas' left pad.
Missouri took their first lead of the series when Ryan Jardine scored on a breakaway at 6:04 in the first. Jardine sped past the Thunder defense and used a forehand-backhand-forehand move to beat Gelinas to his right.
