Perth thunders Simon Kudla celebrating his goal. Photo: Richard Sak.

After giving up the first game at home on Saturday, the Thunder bounced back in impressive fashion Sunday, beating the Ice Dogs 8-4 in a high scoring affair at Perth Ice Arena.

Ben Breault played a helping hand in the win, getting his first hat-trick of the season in a game that saw the Thunder light up the scoreboard in impressive fashion.

The first period however saw the Ice Dogs establish the lead after Strat Allen got the game’s first goal whilst his team was shorthanded. The early goings of the game saw both teams battling at an even pace and it wasn’t until Pier-Olivier Grandmaison even the scores at one with 7:35 remaining in the first that the Thunder began to take control of the game.

From there, the next goal was scored on the powerplay, as Tomek Sak gave the home side the lead for the first time that weekend. With the Thunder leading 2-1 heading into the second period, it was clear that the team was playing with a pace that was not seen in the previous games play, and less than a minute in Ben Breault had his first goal of the game to put his team up by two in the early goings.

Scott Stephenson batttles Alistair Punler. Photo: Richard Sak.

With the score now quickly at 5-1, the goals did not stop there as the Thunder continued to push the Ice Dogs further from any chance of sealing there second win of the weekend. It was Jordan Kyros and Jason McMahon who finished off the periods scoring blitz for the Thunder, with McMahon achieving his first AIHL goal in the process as he put the Thunder up 7-1 heading into the third and final period.

With a change in goaltending for the Ice Dogs during the break, Ignacy Benjamin had replaced Nicholas Mizen to man the crease for the final twenty minutes of play. The Period saw the Ice Dogs push back as well; outscoring the Thunder 3-1 in the Third even after
Breault came out and netted his third goal of the night just thirty seconds into the period.

Grant Toulmin stepped up the Sydney squad, netting two goals in the late stages of the game, before Ellesse Carini put another one in for the Ice Dogs in the dying minutes of play to put the score up to 8-4 as the buzzer sounded.

Landon Oslanski body blocking the shot. Photo: Richard Sak.

Although it was a tough loss to swallow for head coach Andrew Petrie, he commended his team’s effort to rebound in the third despite the scoreboard being heavily tilted in the Thunders favour. “The second period crushed us, five goals on 10 shots doesn’t allow any team to compete at this level. But we won the third period 3-1 and got back to playing our strengths.” He told reporters after the game.

Coach Dave Ruck however was pleased with his team’s dominant performance, and attested to the squad’s mental toughness after taking the loss the day before.  “It comes down to urgency, we lost on Saturday and today the team knew they had to be better. But once we got well ahead we dropped off again in the third and allowed them to come back a little. What we did today to get that lead shows what we need to do. But it’s important to have that mental toughness to come out and do it consistently.”

The Ice Dogs will have a Bye in the upcoming week, whereas the Thunder will head to Canberra to face off in a double-header against the league’s top team in the CBR brave.