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Oilers Romp in 7-3 Victory Over Thunder
Marcellus Scores Twice As Tulsa RE-Takes Lead in Northwest
January 25, 2003
by Janna Kinder TulsaHockey.net
The Tulsa Oilers erupted for 5 goals in the second period en route to a 7-3 victory over the Wichita Thunder Saturday night at the Tulsa Convention Center, closing out the Oilers' "Turn Back The
Clock" weekend on a happy note.
Recently acquired Oiler netminder Matt Carmichael was impressive, stopping 24 of 27 shots.
Also putting on a strong performance was defenseman Mike Johnson,
who had a goal and two assists.
With the victory, the Oilers re-claimed first place in the Northwest Division due to a 2-1 loss dealt to the Oklahoma City Blazers by the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs
Saturday night. The Oilers now stand at 25-13-5 with 55 standings points.
Wichita grabbed a 1-0 lead at 9:21 of the first period when defenseman Jean-Francois Picard fired a shot from the left circle
that took a strange bounce past Carmichael and into the back of the Tulsa net. Jason Duda and Travis Clayton assisted on the power play goal.
Tulsa knotted the score at 1 at when rookie defenseman
Jordon Flodell launched a blast from the left wing, beating a screened Grant Sjerven at 10:37 of the first for his 4th goal of the season. Assists were awarded to Aaron Millar and veteran forward Chris
Johnston.
The Oilers went up 2-1 at 2:24 of the second period when Lyle Steenbergen and Derek Toninato raced into the Wichita zone on a 2 on 1 rush, with Steenbergen feeding a nice pass to Toninato
deep in the left slot, who in turn flipped a shot into the net for his 6th goal of season. Centerman Klage Kaebel received the second assist on Toninato's goal.
Tulsa increased their lead to 2 when
Johnson stole the puck in the Thunder zone and sent a drop pass to Todd Marcellus who blasted a low hard shot from the left wing into the right corner of the Wichita net for his 24th goal of the season at
3:32 of the second.
The Thunder cut the lead to 1 at 9:31 of the second during a Wichita power play when Aaron Plumb collected his own rebound at the right of the Oiler net and poked the puck past
Carmichael, with assists going to Vladimir Hartinger and Evan Marble.
The Oilers regained a 2 goal cushion at 14:09 of the second when Marcellus sent a one timer from the right circle into the top of
the net. The power play goal was assisted by Jamie Steer and defenseman Mike Mohr.
With Hartinger in the box for slashing, Tulsa went up 5-2 at 16:29 of the second when Millar streaked down the right
wing and towards the Wichita net, putting a low shot into the twine from deep in the right slot. Johnson picked up his second assist of the night, with Carmichael earning one as well on Tulsa's second power
play goal of the night.
The Oilers earned a 6-2 lead when Johnson put a rebound into the net from the left crease area, scoring his 3rd goal of the season at 18:06 of the second.
Tulsa took
advantage of another power play opportunity when Steer sent a quick shot from the mid slot into the back of the net, beating Thunder netminder Kristian Antila, who was brought into the game for the start of
the third period. Steer's 22nd goal of season, scored at 5:28 of the third period, was assisted by Marcellus.The Thunder cut the Oiler lead to 7-3 at 15:04 of the third when Ryan McLean
scored during a flurry of activity in front of the Oiler net.The Oilers return to action Tuesday night for a rematch with the Wichita Thunder at the Tulsa Convention Center. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m.
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