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Thunder Trip Oilers 6-4
Wichita Avenges Loss Despite Depleted Roster
January 28, 2003
by Janna Kinder TulsaHockey.net
The Tulsa Oilers missed an
opportunity to further distance themselves from the idle Oklahoma City Blazers Tuesday night as the Wichita Thunder avenged their Saturday night loss to the Oilers with a 6-4 victory at the Tulsa Convention
Center.
Despite the fact that the Thunder had only 13 skaters in Tuesday night's contest, they never trailed against Tulsa.
The Thunder set the tone early by taking a 4-1 lead into the locker
room following the first period.
Tulsa currently sits in first place in the Northwest Division with 55 points. However, the Blazers now hold two games in hand against the Oilers and only trail Tulsa
by 1 point.
Wichita opened the scoring at 4:50 of the first period following an Oiler turnover in the neutral zone, with Thunder veteran Travis Clayton firing a shot from the right circle, beating
Oiler netminder Matt Carmichael stickside. Forwards Jeff Leiter and Jason Duda assisted on the opening goal.
Less than two minutes later, the Thunder grabbed a 2-0 lead when Todd Johnson put a low
shot from the right circle underneath Carmichael, assisted by Derek Reynolds at 6:15 of the first.
Wichita gained a 3 goal cushion on a 2 on 1 rush, with Johnson feeding a pass from the left circle to
Ryan McLean deep in right slot, who in turn one timed a shot into the net at 14:24 of the first.
Only 34 seconds later, the Thunder's first period onslaught continued when Duda backhanded a high shot
from the mid slot into the twine at 14:58 of the first.
The Oilers quickly answered at 15:10 of the first, when Jamie Steer capitalized on a turnover in front of the Wichita net, feeding a quick pass
to veteran winger Todd Marcellus in the left crease area, with Marcellus tapping the puck past Wichita goaltender Kristian Antila for his 26th goal of the season.
Tulsa cut the Thunder lead to 2 at
6:22 of the second period during a Thunder power play when centerman Klage Kaebel raced into the Thunder zone to catch up with a pass from defenseman Jared Reigstad and drove a low shot from the deep left
circle into the back of the net for his 6th goal of season.
The Thunder answered at 9:37 of the second when Clayton sent a pass in front to Tom Gomes, who one timed a shot past Oiler netminder Rod
Branch, giving the Thunder a 5-2 lead.
A key point in the second period occured when Branch, who was brought into the game in relief of Carmichael to start the second, denied Gomes on a penalty shot,
preventing the Thunder from breaking the game wide open.
Kaebel again cut the Thunder lead to 2 by putting on a beautiful display of puck handling, skating into the Wichita zone, around a Thunder
defender, and deking Antila for a tally at 11:46 of the second.
The Oilers made it 5-4 at 10:59 of the third when Lyle Steenbergen scored on a shot that Antila was unable to hold onto, with the puck
fluttering just inside the left post and across the line.
Following a controversial charging call against Oiler forward Dallas Anderson, Wichita regained a two goal lead at 13:02 of the third when
Jerry Cunningham sent a shot from the right circle past Branch. Cunningham's goal would be the final one of the game.
The Oilers return to action this Friday night when they travel to San Angelo to
take on the Saints. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. |
