Tulsa Takes Down Missouri 4-1

(Photo by John Howe)

 The Tulsa Oilers outshot and outscored the league-leading Missouri Mavericks on Tuesday night in the Silverstein Eye Centers Arena.

It was a good opening period for the Oilers. Tulsa went on the board first when Ben Murphy used a Mavericks defenseman as a deflection tool to score on Parker Milner to make things 1-0. Two minutes later at the 15:29 mark Christophe Lalancette and Phil Brewer were granted a two-on-one against Milner. Lalancette took the initial shot that Adam Pleskach found the rebound on. The Oilers doubled their lead.

At 13:53 into the second period David De Kastrozza knocked the puck loose for Josh Holmstrom who snuck it past Jussi Olkinuora.

Mathieu Gagnon gave the Oilers back their two goal lead off of the faceoff. Brady Ramsay took credit for the assist.

Tulsa took two shots on goal in the final frame and half of them would go in. A Brian Nugent one-timer from Ramsay advanced the Oilers 4-1 4:19 into the third period.  The final goal would give assists to Gagnon and Ramsay to complete their two-point night.

The Oilers victory pumped their points to 73—only three away from the Quad City Mallards. Tulsa is in Wichita tomorrow night to snag two more from the Thunder.

Earlier Matchup:

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP

Tulsa Oilers @ Missouri Mavericks 7:05 p.m.Watch on ECHL-TV

Listen on Ustream

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

5-5-1-1

All-time: 20-42-5

TEAM CAPSULES

Tulsa Oilers

Overall: 33-30-3-2 (71 points)

Home: 21-10-3-1

Road: 12-20-0-1

Rank: 3rd in Central Division

Missouri Mavericks

Overall: 51-13-3-2 (107 points)

Home: 29-5-0-1

Road: 22-8-3-1

Rank: 1st in Central Division

OILERS LEADERS

Goals:  Phil Brewer – 19

Assists:  Dennis Brown – 27

Points: Adam Pleskach – 40

+/-:  Dennis Brown +14

PIM: Mathieu Gagnon – 132

MAVERICKS LEADERS

Goals:  Jesse Root – 26

Assists: Tyler Barnes – 37

Points:  Tyler Barnes – 61

+/-:  Jesse Root, +34

PIM: Sebastien Sylvestre – 66

TONIGHTS MATCHUPThe Oilers and Mavericks will dance on the ice one last night before potentially meeting up in Round 1 of the playoffs. No other team has had success over the Mavericks quite the way Tulsa has. The Oilers are 5-5-1-1 against the Mavericks. Over the weekend, the Allen Americans became the second team with five wins against them. Tulsa will compete for a much needed two points.

ROAD TO KELLYThe Tulsa Oilers are ninth in the Western Conference Standings—just one spot out of the final playoff position. Tulsa will look to increase their 71 points this week as they have an opportunity for an extra eight. If the Oilers won all four of their games this week and Quad City did a fair share of losing, Tulsa could jump on that magic number and earn a spot.

BITING BATEForward Shawn Bates recently joined the Oilers roster. In his first four games, the newcomer has recorded three goals. Bates, out of Merrimack College, owns five points in six games with the Tulsa. The Vermilion, Alberta native came to the Oilers off waiver claims after spending 17 games in the ECHL with the Atlanta Gladiators.

POWER [PLAY] HOUSEWhen in the BOK Center, the Oilers bring it. In their own home, the Oilers are second in the ECHL on the power play. Tulsa may be in last place on the road with the man advantage but at home they have 21.4% just behind the Fort Wayne Komets. They have 21 total power play goals on 98 attempts in 35 games.

MOOSE MOVESThe Moose still have Oilers’ leading goal scorer, Dan DeSalvo, on loan. DeSalvo, on a contact with Tulsa, made his AHL debut with the Moose where he produced an assist. In his second game, DeSlavo tallied his first AHL goal against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday, March 11. In 11 games, the forward has seven points. Last week goaltender Jussi Olkinoura was both recalled by the Manitoba Moose then reassigned to Tulsa.

#ECHLMarchMASKnessThe ECHL is hosting a social media contest during the month of March. An image of each team’s selected mask will go ‘head to head’ against another in a Twitter poll—giving fans the chance to vote for what they think is cooler. The bracket began with 16 chosen teams–of which the Oilers were selected.  Kevin Carr’s special Alzheimer’s mask has advanced through rounds one, two and three. The Finals have commenced between the Oilers ‘#ENDALZ’ mask and the Toledo Walley’s mask. To vote, go to @ECHL’s page on Twitter and vote for Tulsa/Carr on the Twitter poll. Voting will last 24 hours and ends tonight at 7 PM CDT.

OIL DROPSThe Oilers are fifth in the ECHL in shots against with a 27.66 percentage… Kevin Carr is twelfth among goaltenders with a 2.39 goals against average and third in minutes with 2616… Phil Brewer is third among rookies with 24 goals… Tulsa leads in team high penalty minutes with 109 on 01/02/16…