Oilers split weekend with Americans

ALLEN, TX—The Tulsa Oilers took to the road for a weekend series with the Allen Americans, the former defending champions of the Central Hockey League and came away with two of a possible four points in the standings, losing 6-4 on Saturday night, and defeating them 3-2 on Sunday Evening. Tulsa 4, Allen 6; 11/8/2014

Game one in Allen started out pretty well for the home team, with the Americans scoring shorthanded at 5:40 (Asuchak from Smith) and again at 7:10 (Gens from Schaafsma and Smith), but the Oilers closed the gap to a goal by period’s end when Adam Pleskach when he took a Jon Booras feed and redirected it past Allen goalie Aaron Dell at the 12:24 mark and the first frame would end with the home side heavy at 2-1.

Period #2 had the Oilers outscoring the Americans 2-1, with Dave Pszenyczny scoring after the Tulsa defense shut down a 5-on-three man advantage.  Jon Booras somehow found Pszenyczny open and found him with a floating pass from the right wing and he tipped it past Dell to knot the score at two.  After that former Tulsa Oiler scored to restore the home team’s lead, and the Oilers again pulled even when Scott Macauley fired a shot past Dell in the period’s final second.

It all fell apart for Tulsa in the final 20 minutes.

Trevor Ludwig, former Oiler Gary Steffes and Jaime Schaafsma scored for Allen to put the game out of reach, but Jake Obermeyer managed to save a little face when he scored at the end of a 2-on-1 rush to make the final score 6-4.  For the first time in the 2014-15 season, Tulsa suffered its first back-to-back losses, while the Americans improved to 3-2-1 on the still-young season.

Brady Hjelle got his first start in goal for Tulsa on Saturday night stopping 37 of 43 Allen shots.  Aaron Dell picked up a win by makes 25 saves on 28 Oilers shots.

Tulsa 3, Allen 2; 11/9/2014.

The rubber match between the Oilers and Americans on Sunday evening featured the player who scored the final goal in the preceding night’s action become the hero for the visitors in the next game as Oilers defenseman Jake Obermeyer scored the game winner. Obermeyer’s quick action to punch home an Adam Pleskach pass allowed the Oilers to avoid an Americans sweep of the weekend after a 2-1 lead that the Oilers enjoyed going into the game’s final 20  minutes and it brought an end to Tulsa’s two game losing skid.  It was a truly back and forth contest as the two teams nearly took a scoreless tie into the first intermission.

Then, with under 20 ticks remaining on the Allen Event Center score-clock, T.J. Caig lifted a rebound over Allen goaltender Riley Gill to give his team a 1-0 advantage going into the first break.  In the second period Drew Fisher knifed home a Caig rebound near the middle of the second period.  With a potential tying goal by Spence Asuchak waved off on the preceding play, a Caig shot dribble across the Americans goal crease and Fisher slammed it home.

Allen pulled even in the final period with goals by Tyler Ludwig and former Oiler Jack Combs.

With the game seemingly headed to the overtime/shootout decision Obermeyer performed his heroics and after 50 seconds of solid Oilers defense, Tulsa walked away with a 3-2 hard-fought win.  A win that snapped the Oilers two-game slide and helped them remain in a three way tie for the top spot in the ECHL Central Division with a 4-3-1 overall record. The Oilers return home to the BOK Center for a two game set this coming weekend with the Quad City Mallards on Friday and yet another tilt with the Missouri Mavericks on Saturday.

Photo Credit: www.TulsaOilers.com.