Brody Hoffman made 44 saves and Olivier Archambault scored twice and added an assist as the Quad City Mallards (33-26-6) defeated the host Wichita Thunder (16-38-12) 4-1 Saturday night.

With the win the Mallards held on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the ECHL's Western Conference.

Hoffman was at his spectacular best while making 22 saves in the face of an almost unrelenting third period Thunder onslaught. He was only denied a shutout when Michael Neal scored in a goalmouth scramble with just three minutes and twenty-three seconds left in the game.

By that time the Mallards had already put the Thunder away by scoring a pair of third period goals on just four shots. Mike Monfredo rifled the first Quad City shot of the third past Wichita goaltender David Shantz from the top of the right wing circle at 8:38. Archambault scored his second goal and the Mallards' fourth into an empty net at 14:52 after the Thunder gambled by pulling Shantz for an extra attacker with better than five minutes remaining.

The Mallards scored once in each of the first two periods. Matt Carey gave the Mallards a 1-0 lead by burying Jordan Knackstedt's centering pass at 6:58 of the first period. The Mallards were on the power play when Archambault pounced on a rebound to double the lead at 5:33 of the second period.

The Mallards and Thunder meet again in Wichita Tuesday night. The Mallards next play on home ice next Friday night at 7:05 p.m. against the Tulsa Oilers.  Friday also brings the return of $1 Dog/$1 Beer Night presented by 97X and MetroLINK College Night.

Single game tickets for all Mallards regular season home games- including next Friday night’s contest- are on sale now at the iWireless Center box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and Ticketmaster charge-by-phone toll free at 1-800-745-3000. The box office is open weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Tickets are available for $10, $16, $20 and $24.