Tulsa evens playoff series in Mississippi with 4-1 win.

SOUTHAVEN, MI-- It’s not over yet.

The fat lady needs to learn a Bob Wills tune instead of an Elvis Presley number.

Sports and music clichés aside, the Tulsa Oilers fought off elimination for the second straight game and forced a decisive fifth game in their best of five opening round series with the Mississippi Riverkings with a 4-1 win on Tuesday night in Mississippi. The win ties the series at two games each and effectively erased the momentum the Riverkings had after they put the Oilers down 0-2 after the two opening games last week in the BOK Center.

Michel Beausoleil opened the scoring with his fourth power play goal of the series for the Oilers, scoring a goal in each game. Former Oiler Andrew Lackner tied the game for Mississippi midway through the second period.

John Mori scored a shorthanded breakaway goal, getting his own rebound to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead three and a half minutes into the third period. Chad Costello who had six assists in the series to that point, notched his first goal of the series at 5:53 of the third period. He got his second goal of the series just five minutes later to round out the scoring.

Trevor Cann turned aside 30 Mississippi shots, and the Oilers penalty killers successfully defended against nine Mississippi power plays, in addition to Mori scoring shorthanded.

The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to the conference semi-finals.

Game five is at the BOK Center Saturday at 7:35 p.m. Tickets are available at the BOK Box Office, Tickets.com, Tulsa area Reasor’s stores, and by calling 1-866-7BOK-CTR (866-725-5287). More information is available by calling the Oilers office at 918- 632-PUCK (7825).

Photo by Kevin Pyle.