Thunder's Franek sets record in win

The final horn had just sounded signalling the end of the Las Vegas Thunder's 5-4 win over the Utah Grizzlies on Tuesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, and nobody was happier than Petr Franek.

The Thunder goaltender had broken the team record for consecutive victories between the pipes with his ninth straight. Better yet, it came at the expense of the team that had released him earlier this season following a dreadful 1-6-1 start.

And Franek, who has made no secret of his dislike of Utah coach Butch Goring for his release, decided to celebrate.

Looking straight at the Grizzlies' bench, Franek took his arm and made a gesture that some might view as obscene. Let's just say his left elbow was bent in a 45-degree angle while his right hand was chopping down on his left arm.

"A dumb joke," Franek said. "That's part of life. That's hockey. He (Goring) don't like me. He send me here, so ..."

Goring didn't see the salute from Franek. When asked about it later, he said simply, "I don't care."

But Thunder head coach Bob Bourne, a former Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year winner, didn't appreciate it.

"I never grandstand in my life, so I don't associate with that," Bourne said. "I wish (Franek) hadn't done it. We've got to play those guys six more times this year."

Including four more times in Salt Lake City, where the local folk aren't expected to act too kindly when they learn of Franek's gesture.

It was a sloppy ending to a sloppy win by the Thunder, who have now won 10 of their last 11 games.

Las Vegas, behind goals by Dean Ewen, Lee Jinman, Patrice Lefebvre and Russ Romaniuk, jumped out to a 4-0 lead and appeared on the way to a laugher.

But thanks in part to some bad penalties and even poorer defense, Utah roared back to cut the lead to 4-3 on a shorthanded goal by Terry Hollinger with just 7:52 remaining.

Thirty-five seconds later, defenseman Taj Melson put Las Vegas back up by two with a 20-foot wrist shot from the slot.

Franek, who stopped 42 shots, broke the team record of eight straight victories set by Parris Duffus in 1996.

"Every game is the same for me no matter whether we're playing Utah or Long Beach or whoever," Franek said. "I just like to win."

* THUNDER NOTES: Because of a Thomas & Mack scheduling conflict (the Oscar De La Hoya-Ike Quartey title fight), Saturday night's game with the Long Beach Ice Dogs has been switched to Sunday night at 6:05. ... The Thunder travel to Houston for a Thursday night game against the Southwest Division-leading Aeros, then return home Friday vs. Long Beach.

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