Monday, March 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
SUN STAFF REPORTS
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- A strange goal late in the game helped Las Vegas overcome a hat trick from Manitoba's Greg Pankewicz as the Thunder defeated the Moose, 6-4, at Winnipeg Arena.
With 18:54 left to play in Sunday's game Egor Bashkatov sealed the Moose's fate as their goaltender, Fred Brathwaite, was skating off the ice. Brathwaite was called off for an extra attacker and headed toward the Manitoba bench, not realizing the Thunder had control of the puck in the neutral zone.
Bashkatov's goal was his 19th and easiest of the season.
By avenging Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Moose, the Thunder comes out of the weekend upbeat. The team also received good news this weekend from the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, who assigned defenseman Ruslan Salei to Las Vegas.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder played his first pro season for the Thunder in 1995-96 before the Ducks drafted him in the second round of the National Hockey League draft. In 76 games, he recorded seven goals and 23 assists with 123 penalty minutes and a +42.
Salei has been a disappointment thus far for Anaheim. In 30 games, he had one point, 37 penalty minutes and a --8. He was demoted to Baltimore of the American Hockey League earlier this season, but will be looked upon to further spark a Thunder team that has been playing well of late.
Early Sunday, all of the Thunder's bees were buzzing as Steve Bancroft scored off assists from Bashkatov and Andrei Bashkirov just 33 ticks after the opening drop. It was Bancroft's 11th goal of the season.
Patrice Lefebvre tallied his 18th of the season to make it 2-0 at 12:00. Martin Gendron and Darcy Loewen assisted.
Pankewicz cut the Thunder's lead in half at 8:24 of the second period with his first goal of the day.
Gendron put the Thunder ahead 3-1 with his team-leading 35th goal of the season as Ken Quinney and Lefebvre assisted at 11:27. But Pankewicz countered with his second goal of the frame just over five minutes later.
Manitoba kept it close and scored two more goals in the third period, including the third from Pankewicz, but Las Vegas got three. Joe Day and Bashkirov each found the back of the net before Bashkatov's odd goal.
The victory gives the Thunder a 31-26-6 record for 68 points and fourth place in the five-team Southwest Division. The loss kept Manitoba in last place in the Midwest Division at 26-28-9 for 61 points.
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