WICHITA, Kan. (Feb. 18) – Wichita closed a two-game home set on Saturday night, falling to Tulsa by a 5-2 final at INTRUST Bank Arena in front of 6,412 fans.
Quinn Preston and Timur Ibragimov led the way for the Thunder with two points each.
Tag Bertuzzi gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 13:45 of the first. He tipped a pass through the slot from Karl Boudrias past Brad Arvanitis for his 18th of the year.
Wichita outshot the Oilers 12-6 in the second, but failed to get one past Daniel Mannella.
Preston tied the game just 1:03 into the third. He popped out near the right hashmark and fired a one-timer past Mannella on the power play for his 18th of the year.
The Oilers answered just 15 seconds later when Max Golod pounced on a rebound near the crease and tallied his eighth of the year to make it 2-1.
Logan Nijhoff increased the Tulsa lead to 3-1 at 5:21 with a nice stickhandling move through the slot.
At 6:33, Alex Gilmour cut down the right seam and beat Arvanitis with a snap shot that made it 4-1.
Peter Bates cut the lead to 4-2 at 19:33. He found a rebound near the right post and redirected it in for his 12th of the year.
Golod added his second of the game at 19:56 with an empty-netter to close the scoring.
Both teams went 1-for-6 on the power play.
Preston finished with a goal and an assist. Ibragimov tallied two helpers. MacDonald added another assist.
