The Baltimore Thunder are off to the best start in franchise history as Kip Fulks scored his third goal of the game at 2:11 of OT to defeat the Philadelphia Wings 18-17 before a raucous crowd of 10,125 at the Baltimore Arena.

The first quarter was a seesaw affair that ended with the Thunder holding a 7-6 lead. Rob Shek opened the scoring for Baltimore with Fred Jenner tying the game for the Wings. Goals 47 seconds apart by Gary Gait and Matt Shearer gave the Thunder a 3-1 lead. The Wings countered with three of the next four goals to tie the game at four. Each team then exchanged goals until Gait's third of the game gave Baltimore the 7-6 advantage.

The Wings owned the second quarter, outscoring the Thunder 5-1 and getting key saves from Dallas Eliuk to take an 11-8 lead into halftime. Baltimore goalie Chris Sanderson was chased from the game at the 6:55 mark after a Jim Rogers goal gave the Wings a 10-8 lead. Backup Erik Miller surrendered a short handed goal to John McEvoy to close the half and Sanderson returned for the second half.

Baltimore dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Wings 6-3. The key moment of the quarter came when Philadelphia's Tom Marechek and Baltimore's Brian Reese were ejected after receiving majors for fighting and facemasking. Each team scored three goals in the fourth. Former Thunder Sean Radebaugh scored his second goal of the game with 2:41 remaining to give the Wings their final lead at 17-16 but just eighteen seconds later, Joe Hiltz's third goal of the night would set the stage for Kip Fulks and his heroics. Prior to Fulks' goal, the Thunder had a goal disallowed due to a crease violation.

Baltimore was 3-for-7 on the powerplay, but gave up two shorthanded goals. The Wings were 1-for-3 on the man advantage, and allowing no goals while on the power play. Joe Hiltz led all Thunder scorers with 7 points (3+4). Also scoring hat tricks were Gary Gait, Matt Shearer and Kip Fulks. The Wings were led by Kevin Finneran's seven point night (2+5). Tom Marechek had four points (3+1) before his ejection, and Mike Busza had 5 points (1+4).

While the Thunder are off to their best start in history, the Wings are off to their worst. Philadelphia will try to right their course on Friday at Buffalo while the Thunder will look to remain undefeated, also on Friday, at Syracuse.

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4 OT     TOT
Philadelphia Wings (0-4)          6  5  3  3  0  --  17
Baltimore Thunder (5-0)           7  1  6  3  1  --  18

PHILADELPHIA WINGS            BALTIMORE THUNDER
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Finneran       2 - 5     7    Hiltz          3 - 3     6 
Bergey         2 - 3     5    Fulks          3 - 1     4 
Marechek       3 - 1     4    Gait           3 - 1     4 
Ogelsby        3 - 1     4    Hormes         2 - 2     4 
Busza          0 - 4     4    Shearer        3 - 0     3 
McEvoy         2 - 1     3    Cantabene      1 - 2     3 
Rogers         2 - 1     3    Evans          1 - 1     2 
Katanchik      0 - 3     3    Hubbard        1 - 1     2 
S Radebaugh    2 - 0     2    C Sanderson    0 - 2     2 
Jenner         1 - 1     2    Shek           1 - 0     1 
Bates          0 - 2     2    Gervais        0 - 1     1 
O'Grady        0 - 1     1    Tapp           0 - 1     1 
                              Tillman        0 - 1     1 

Shots on goal           58    Shots on goal           69
Saves made by           51    Saves made by           41
   Eliuk             51          C Sanderson       38
                                 Miller             3
Penalties               12    Penalties                8
Penalty Minutes         28    Penalty Minutes         22
Power Play Chances       3    Power Play Chances       7
Power Play Goals         1    Power Play Goals         3
Shorthanded Goals        2    Shorthanded Goals        0

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH BALTIMORE SUN ***