The Thunder keeps shooting, and keeps winning.
Its 4-3 win on Sunday at Stockton Arena featured an interesting stat. The Thunder outshot the Steelheads 36-16.
Shots on goal can sometimes be an over-rated statistic, but there is a trend here. The Thunder is 10-3-1 and has outshot its opponents in nine of its 14 games. Stockton averages 30.64 shots per game, and gives up 26.35.
The defense deserves much of the credit for this. Stockton’s speedy forwards push the puck into the opposing zone, but the blue line is doing a very good job of making teams work for their opportunities. Idaho didn’t get many great looks at the net on Sunday, and actually took advantage of the chances it did get.
But it couldn’t sustain a barrage of shots like the Thunder did, and that was the difference.
