Thunder wings reach milestones

      It was a meaningless regular-season finale for the Thunder, but it meant a great deal to Martin Gendron and Patrice Lefebvre.
      The star wingers each netted personal milestones during the club's 5-4 shootout victory over the Phoenix Roadrunners on Monday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
      Gendron scored two goals, his 50th and 51st, and Lefebvre had an assist to give him 400 points in his four-year Thunder career.
      Gendron got his 50th at 1:03 of the first, snapping a quick shot past Phoenix goalie J.C. Bergeron, bringing his teammates off the bench to congratulate him. Lefebvre got his 400th Thunder point when he set up an Alexander Semak goal at 10:26 in the second, again emptying the Thunder bench in congrat- ulations.
      "Seeing the bench empty like that is a symbol of how close this team is," said McSorley, whose team finished 41-34-7 and fourth in the Southwest Division with 89 points.
      Gendron closed in a rush to hit the 50-goal plateau. With 10 games left, he needed 12 goals to become just the third Las Vegas player to net 50 in a season. Ken Quinney had 55 in 1993-94, and Sergei Zholtok, who had 51 in 1995-96, are the others.
      "I was hoping to get 45 because 12 in 10 games is a lot," Gendron said, grinning despite a cut lip that required five stitches to close and a broken tooth, courtesy of a first-period hit from Phoenix's Trevor Roenick.
      But Gendron blazed down the stretch, getting two in each of the final three games to finish in second place in goals in the league this season. Chicago's Steve Maltais won the goal-scoring title with 60.
      It clearly meant a lot to Gendron, who held out from the Washington Capitals all season. He had a point to prove with his play in Las Vegas.
      "It was a season from hell, NHL-wise, the way they treated me," Gendron said. "I kind of got my personal revenge since they didn't make the playoffs and I did and I got 50 goals. I think I proved I can score."
      That is something Lefebvre proved time and again in his four seasons in Las Vegas, but not everyone along the way believed that. After a superb junior career and a stint in the Vancouver Canucks organization, Lefebvre had to go to Europe to play because there was no one willing to give a 5-foot-6, 160-pound winger a shot in professional hockey.
      Until the Thunder came along.
      "One of Pat Lefebvre's biggest break came when I got the job here," Thunder general manager Bob Strumm said. "I had a small player in junior who had tremendous success, and I had absolutely no fear of signing another one. Dale Derkatch just tore up the (Western Hockey League) in Regina for me, and I knew from that experience that size wasn't a determining factor in whether a guy could play.
      "It's kind of amazing now to look back after seeing all that he has accomplished to think some people doubted whether the guy could play professional hockey."
      The Thunder's many injuries and personnel moves made it a difficult season, making the milestone of becoming just the second International Hockey League player to average 100 points a season over the last four years that much more satisfying to Lefebvre.
      "It made it great," Lefebvre said. "I was fortunate because I played 82 games without injuries. There were little minor things, but it was a great accomplishment with all the injuries we've had. We had a team for 2 1/2 months that we had to borrow guys from the West Coast League and this and that. It was very hard physically and very hard emotionally, but we fought through it."
      -- THUNDER NOTE -- The Thunder opens the playoffs Saturday and Sunday in Houston. Games 3 and 4 of the best-of-5 series are at the Thomas & Mack Center on April 25 and April 26 at 7:05 p.m. Game 5, if necessary, is April 29 in Houston.