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RiverKings Rock Oilers 7-1
Tulsa Drops Second in a Row to Memphis
December 28, 2002
by Janna Kinder TulsaHockey.net
The Memphis RiverKings dropped the
Oilers for the second straight time on Tulsa's home ice, winning 7-1 at the Tulsa Convention Center on Saturday night.
With the loss, the Oilers lost ground on their lead in the Central Hockey
League's Northwest Division, as the Oklahoma City Blazers defeated the Fort Worth Brahmas 4-2 on Saturday night. Tulsa now holds a 9 point lead over the Blazers.
The RiverKings grabbed a 1-0 lead at
10:23 of the first period when Robb Palahnuk rifled a one timer from the left circle into the right top corner of the net, beating Oiler netminder Rod Branch during a 'Kings power play.
Palahnuk
struck again, wristing a high shot from deep in the left slot over a sprawling Branch at 12:04 of the first. Assists were awarded to Don Parsons and Luch Nasato.
The RiverKing lead increased to 3 when
Jonathon Gagnon skated down the right wing, drove to the right side of the Oiler net, and floated a shot past Branch at 1:57 of the second period. An assist was given to forward Kahlil Thomas.
At
3:34 of the second, Tulsa forward Dallas Anderson was given a slew of penalties, including six minutes in minors, a game misconduct and a gross misconduct. Tulsa's Todd Marcellus was also put in the box for
using an illegal stick. In addition, Oiler veteran forward Chris Johnston was given a ten minute misconduct and gross misconduct by referee Paul DePuydt.
After the Oilers had successfully killed off a
good portion of the penalties, Parsons scored on a sharp angled shot from the left circle at 7:03 of the second, assisted by Ben Gorewich and Nasato.
The Oilers got on the board at 14:39 of the second
during a Tulsa power play when Marcellus fed a cross ice pass to Jamie Steer in the left circle, who in turn one timed a shot past RiverKing goaltender Jean-Francois Racine for his 17th goal of the season.
Rookie forward Lyle Steenbergen, who was awarded the second assist, set up the play by driving into the Memphis zone and delivering a drop pass to Marcellus in the right circle.
The 'Kings went up 5-1
at 8:56 of the third period, when Parsons and Gorewich teamed up on a 2 on 1 rush, with Parsons one timing a feed from the left side past Branch for his second goal of the game.
At 13:22, Riley Cote
capitalized on an Oiler turnover deep in the Tulsa zone, lighting the lamp to give the RiverKings a 6-1 lead.
Memphis capped the scoring at 19:42 when Cote tallied his second goal of the evening.
The Oilers travel to Memphis to complete a home and home series with the RiverKings on Sunday. The puck drops at 6:05 p.m. |
