OILERS CAN'T STOP MAVERICKS FROM CLINCHING FIRST PLAYOFF SPOT

OILERS CAN'T STOP MAVERICKS FROM CLINCHING FIRST PLAYOFF SPOT 

Kansas City becomes the first ECHL team to clinch a postseason berth via a 7-4 win. 

TULSA, Okla. —The Tulsa Oilers, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks and the AHL’s San Diego Gulls and powered by Community Care, fell 6-4 to the Kansas City Mavericks at the BOK Center on Sunday evening.   

Jimmy Lodge scored the first goal of the game for the Oilers for the second-straight game, coming 2:28 into the action. The goal was the first first-period tally of the week for Tulsa. Bradley Schoobaert leveled the game 1-1 less than a minute later. Max Andreev forced a short-handed goal through Julian Junca 6:20 into the action, putting the Mavericks up 2-1. Patrick Curry notched his team-leading 28^th of the season with 6:45 left into the first before Kyle Jackson sent the Mavericks up 4-1 heading into the first intermission in the final 1:30 of the first period. 

Dante Sheriff cut the Kansas City lead in half with his career-high 13^th goal of the season, finishing a power-play feed past Cale Morris 32 seconds before the mid-way mark of the game. Jackson nabbed his second of the game, restoring the three-goal deficit with 5:49 left in the second. Jeremy McKenna closed the second period 6-2 in the Mavericks’ favor with his 16^th game of the season 17:48 into the middle frame. 

Davis ‘T-Bone’ Codd flung a shot through Morriss 1:59 into period number three, setting the score 6-3 in Kansas City’s favor. Jamie Rome scored his first goal as an Oiler in his second game with the team, bringing Tulsa within two, 6-4 with 5:26 remaining. A long-distance, empty-net goal by Cade Borchardt sealed the score 7-4 in the Mavericks favor.