Despite a two-goal effort from Matt Summers, Wichita couldn't recover from an early deficit in Game 3 of the CHL Finals.
The Thunder lost 7-3 to the Fort Wayne Komets. The Thunder trail in the best-of-seven series 3-0 and will try to stay alive on Saturday night in Game 4.
Fort Wayne didn't waste any time, scoring two goals in a span of 32 seconds in the first period.
Kaleigh Schrock scored at 3:22 to make it 1-0 on the rush. Off a face-off, Bryant Molle worked himself to the middle of the blue line and found the back of the net to make it 2-0. Wichita would cut into the lead at 9:43 when Aaron Davis (3) stole a clearing attempt and his bad-angle wrist shot got past Nick Boucher to make it 2-1.
The Komets came out firing in the second, scoring three unanswered goals in the span of 1:31. The first came on the power play when Daniel Maggio blasted one in at 8:34. The Komets were then awarded a power play and it took them only 11 seconds to score as Colin Chaulk made it 4-1 at 8:59. As the Thunder was about to be called for another penalty, Leo Thomas found himself all alone in front of the Wichita net and extended the Komets lead to 5-1. Wichita was able to get the lead down to two as Summers (3) scored twice in a two-minute span to make it 5-3.
In the third, Chaulk and Schrock each scored their second on the night and the Komets skated away with a 7-3 victory. With the win, Fort Wayne leads the series 3-0 with Game 4 taking place on Saturday night.
Summers had his first multi-goal game of the playoffs, Chris Chappell added two assists and Daniel Tetrault moves into a tie with Cam Plante (17) for first place all-time for points scored by a Thunder defenseman in the post-season with an assist tonight.
If the Thunder can win, they will play Game 5 on Monday night with a chance to extend the series back to Wichita.
