Tuesday, April 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
When you've got the kind of firepower the Thunder has, it doesn't take very long to turn a hockey game completely around. Less than two minutes, in fact.
Though they had been shut out in the opening game of the first round of the IHL Western Conference playoffs, Bill Bowler, Patrice Lefebvre and Ken Quinney knew the drought wasn't going to be a lengthy one. Not with the chances they were creating for themselves.
Monday night, they broke through the dam that was Frederick Beaubien for two third-period insurance goals as part of a three-goal spurt in a 1:50 span to help the Thunder put away the Phoenix Roadrunners 4-1.
The win, which came in front of 5,589 at the Thomas & Mack Center, gave Las Vegas a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 series. The Thunder can wrap up the opening-round set Friday night in Phoenix. If the Roadrunners can stave off elimination, Game 4 will be Saturday at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
"We just keep sticking to our game," said Bowler, who had two assists. "If you work hard enough, good things are going to happen."
And this line has worked extremely hard at both ends of the ice this year. Quinney, in particular, has been tremendous in winning the battles along the boards and making sure nobody's free in the Thunder's end.
"You want to get points every night," said Quinney, who had a goal and two assists. "But playoff hockey's different. You need to be more aware of your own end."
And coach Chris McSorley doesn't have to tell his guys twice about that. In fact, McSorley said he didn't mention defensive responsibilities once to Bowler's line.
"Defense is the most unselfish gift you can give your teammates," he said. "That line has been fanatical about getting back and doing their share on defense."
Their reward was a couple of rocket shots off the sticks of Quinney and Lefebvre 1:06 apart to turn a 2-1 Las Vegas edge into a comfortable 4-1 advantage.
Bowler set up Quinney's goal with a great hustle play at the Phoenix blue line to keep the puck in play. He found Lefebvre wide open along the right-hand boards. Quinney, meanwhile, had headed for the net. Lefebvre made a crisp cross-ice pass and Quinney blasted the puck past Beaubien.
Moments later, Lefebvre had the puck deep in Phoenix ice, almost below the right face-off circle. He fired the puck on goal, hoping Beaubien, who at this point was struggling to stop the puck cleanly, would give up another rebound. Instead, it went by him and into the net.
"Ned (Vaclav Nedomansky Jr.) said to look 5-hole (between the legs) on him," Lefebvre said. "To be honest, I was just trying to put it on goal.
"But that's the great thing about this team. One night, it's one line. Another night, it's another. Tonight, it was our turn."
So far, it has been Joe Day's turn every night. The hard-nosed center scored the first Las Vegas goal, atoning for a boarding penalty he had taken a couple of minutes earlier. Quinney, who was still on the ice from killing off Day's penalty, picked up Day on the left side.
Day, with a full head of steam, let loose from inside the left circle and beat Beaubien to tie it late in the second period with his second goal of the playoffs. It gave the Thunder the momentum it was looking for after it trailed for most of the second period following Bent Grieve's goal off a rebound of his own backhand shot on Pokey Reddick.
The kill prior to Day's goal was critical. Had Phoenix scored, the Roadrunners would have had a 2-0 lead and the Thunder would have been looking at an uphill battle heading into the third period.
Instead, Guy Larose scored his first playoff goal 3:16 into the period as he tapped home Sergei Zholtok's blast from the top of the left circle to make it 2-1. That set the stage for Bowler, Lefebvre and Quinney to finish off the Roadrunners.
"That's what being a team's all about," said Lefebvre, who helped Quinney kill off Day's penalty and was the second assist on Day's tying goal. "We're not going to panic and everyone's contributing at both ends."
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