Tulsa, OK (April 9th) – Despite an outstanding effort in net from David Shantz, Tulsa (37-30-3-2) grabbed a 2-1 overtime win against Wichita (18-41-7-6) on Saturday night at the BOK Center.
Christian Isackson recorded the lone Thunder goal while Shantz stopped 28 shots including several key saves late in the third.
Two minutes into the game, Ben Murphy fired a wrist shot off the blocker-side post past David Shantz to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. Wichita answered the bell with just under four minutes left in the frame as Isackson made a great play to get to the net and beat Jussi Olkinuora across the crease for his 14th of the season.
In the second, the two teams combined for 32 penalty minutes with most of those being racked up at 14:51 during a net-mouth scrum.
The best Oilers chance late in the game came from Tom Kroshus, who worked his way to the slot only to be stopped by Shantz. The two teams would eventually head into overtime.
The game winner came from Phil Brewer at 2:26 of the extra session as the Oilers came down on a two-on-one. Brewer caught a feed across the ice and beat Shantz to give the Oilers a 2-1 victory.
The two teams played in their seventh game past regulation in the season-series and back-to-back nights with a 2-1 finish. In fact, nine of the 13 meetings between Wichita and Tulsa were decided by just a goal. Kale Kerbashian and Ian Lowe grabbed assists on the Isackson tally. Shantz takes the loss, stopping 28 of 30 shots. Olkinuora gets the victory, stopping 16 of 17 shots he faced.
Wichita went 0-for-3 on the power play. Tulsa went 0-for-2 on the man advantage.
