(Photo by Kevin Pyle – www.photopyle.com)
Oilers’ Head Coach Jason Christie broke the ECHL all-time coaching wins record against the Idaho Steelheads back in December. Tonight Christie would reach his 500th. This win would be in similar fashion to Tulsa’s last victory against Idaho with a mirrored score of 4-2. Kevin Carr was the talk of the night as the goaltender stopped 36 shots in 60 minutes.Emerson Clark scored two goals, one assist and participated in a fight to give himself his second Gordie Howe hat trick in his last four games.
Hopefully the line at will call was not too long in Century Link Arena on Saturday night. If it was, you missed a lot. Nine seconds into the first period Rob Linsmayer, Friday night’s game winning goal-scorer, tallied on Carr. One second later, the gloves were dropped by Emerson Clark and Andrew Panzarella.
Hard work by Clark in the attacking zone provided an opportunity for Phil Brewer to blast the puck over the high slot of Jack Campbell to tie the score 1-1.
The middle period did not start with a goal in the first nine seconds—or the next 1,084. After roughing with Jake Rutt, Brian Nugentassisted on the Christophe Lalancette netter that gave the Oilers their first lead of the night with 1:53 left in the frame.
The Oilers headed into the third period 10-0-0-0 when leading after the second. They finished it 11-0-0-0 when leading.
Tulsa would take a power player on a controversial hit by Linsmayer on Lalancette that would shortly turn into a 4-on-4. Clark’s interference would provide a very brief man advantage for the Steelheads that Emil Molin cashed in on. With about three minutes left, Idaho would only trail by one, 3-2.
An Emerson Clark empty netter in final seconds would seal the game outcome—an Oilers win and 500 for Coach Christie.
The Idaho Steelheads Western Conference lead over the Oilers shrinks to just one point. Tulsa’s record advances to 17-13-2-2 (38 points) as they head to visit the league leading Missouri Mavericks next Friday and Saturday.
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