The Oilers took a 1-0 lead at 5:42 of
the first period when Marcellus fed Welsh on a breakaway, with the veteran d-man beating Austin goaltender Matt Barnes top shelf for his 7th goal of the year.Austin tied the game at 1 when Jeff
Greenlaw deflected a shot into the Oiler net during a Bat power play, assisted by Pat Brownlee and Kelly Smart at 7:25 of the first.
The IceBats gained a 2-1 lead at 12:56 of the first when
Gerald Tallaire scored his 21st goal of the season.
Austin increased their lead to 2 when Brownlee received a nice feed from Smart and beat Branch with a shot for his first of two goals, occurring at 42
seconds of the second period.
The Oilers cut the lead to 3-2 when Marcellus tipped home a shot by defenseman Jared Reigstad at 7:34 of the second, with blueliner Mike Mohr receiving the
secondary assist on the goal.
Reigstad set up another Oiler goal during a Tulsa power play at 10:38 of the second, with Ossachuk tipping a shot into the Austin net for his 19th goal of the season.
Welsh
tallied his second goal of the evening at 12:30 of the second, giving the Oilers a 4-3 lead.
Tulsa forward Dallas Anderson put the Oilers on top by two goals when he picked up a loose puck in
the Austin zone and put a shot past Barnes at 13:18 of the second for his 10th goal of the season.
Brownlee stopped the bleeding for Austin at 14:55 of the second, sending a shot into the Oiler
cage, assisted by Matt Sharuga and Brett Seguin.
The Oilers would strike again, however, at 18:29 of the second when veteran defenseman Regan Harper sent a cross ice pass to Marcellus in the
slot, who in turn fired the puck into the back of the twine for his 34th goal of the year.
At 5:52 of the third period, the Bats again cut the Oiler lead to 1 when Dan Price muscled the puck
past Branch with assists going to Brownlee and Tallaire.
The Oilers sealed the ever important victory with empty net goals by Ossachuk at 18:41 of the third and Marcellus at 19:06 of the third, which
completed the all-star forward's hat trick bid.
Tulsa returns to action this Wednesday night as they take on the Indianapolis Ice in a 7:05 p.m. showdown at the Tulsa Convention Center.
