Oilers break the Missouri curse

INDEPENDENCE, MO.—The Tulsa Oilers snapped a 7 game losing streak to the Missouri Mavericks on Friday night as the defeated the team from the Kansas City suburb 4-1 in front of 5,580 in the Independence Event Center.  The Oilers snapped a three-game losing streak against the Maverick this season with the win which was solved during regulation time and not in the overtime/shootout conversion.

One of the main things that helped Tulsa to the victory was a stellar penalty-kill unit that disposed of nine Missouri power play opportunities in the game.  It was also a game where the Oiler trailed only once, and then for only a little under four minutes.  Another anomaly was that once the Oiler had a two goal-cushion over their opponents, they did not let the lead evaporate to force extra time to resolve the game.

The only goal for Missouri in the game came from the recently acquired Josh Brittain at 3:11 of the first period.  Brttain lifted the puck over Tulsa goalie Kevin Carr, to give the home side their one and only lead of the game.  After that, it was all Tulsa.

As a penalty that was leveled after former Maverick defenseman Dave Pszenyczny expired, Pszenyczny raced from the box and gained the puck behind the Missouri net, fed it to Jon Booras who snapped it into the net behind Mavs goaltender John Griggs to knot the score at 1-1. With the Oilers on the power play at 16:41, T.J. Caig sent a rocket towards Griggs that was redirected into his net by team captain Nathan Lutz, giving Tulsa a 2-1 lead, which was a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game and one they would ride to the period’s intermission.

Booras tallied his second goal of the night at 13:46 of the second period to put the Oilers up 3-1.  Jake Obermeyer's shot from the point caromed hard off the back boards and Booras was the recipient of the rebound at the side of the Missouri net.  Booras registered his second multi-goal game of the season and leads the Oilers with 18 points (6 goals, 12 assists).

The win gave Tulsa goalie Kevin Carr his seventh win in 12 games, and he made 33 saves on 34 shots from the Mavericks.  John Griggs turned away 27 saves on 31 Tulsa shots.  The win gives the Oilers a 1-0-1 record for this trip and they also improve to 7-3-2 overall and got five of a possible six points in three games this week to remain in first place in the ECHL Central Division.  Tulsa finished 1-for-5 on the power play and scored on the man-advantage for the first time in five games.  Tulsa set a new season-high with nine successful penalty kills and a new season-low for goals allowed in a game.

From here the Oiler return home for a four-game home stand that extends through the Thanksgiving holiday beginning with a 4:05 matinee on Sunday afternoon against the Wichita Thunder, a team they defeated 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday night.