TULSA HANDS IDAHO 5-2 LOSS SATURDAY NIGHT
TULSA, OK – The Idaho Steelheads (26-12-1-1, 54pts) fell to the Tulsa Oilers (18-18-3-0, 41pts) by a final score of 5-2 Saturday night in front of 16,018 fans at The BOK Center. Idaho and Tulsa will wrap up the three-in-three weekend tomorrow afternoon for a 3:05 p.m. (MT) puck drop.
Tulsa led 1-0 after the first period as Yaroslav Yevdokimov tipped a puck through the wickets of Bryan Thomson with 1:55 to play in the stanza. The Oilers outshot the Steelheads 12-7.
Bair Gendenov gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead at 12:17 of the second period before the Steelheads scored back-to-back goals to tie the score at 2-2. Patrick Kudla (6th) got Idaho on the board at 13:55 from the far side of the goal line he scooped the puck into the top left corner over the shoulder of Julian Junca with assists going to Ben Zloty and Wade Murphy. 2:55 later Willie Knierim (10th) scored on the power-play to tie the game at 2-2. Francesco Arcuri from the right circle fed Colton Kehler at the left dot. From there Kehler fed Knierim on the far side of the crease where he directed the puck home. Tulsa re-gained the lead with a goal from Alec Butcher with 1:46 left in the stanza to capture a 3-2 lead going into the dressing room through 40 minutes of play. Shots were in favor of Idaho 18-17 in the second period.
Yaroslav Yevdokimov scored his second goal of the game to make it 4-2 Tulsa at 8:44 of the third period. Jared Hilderman scored an empty netter with 1:22 left in the game to hand the Oilers a 5-2 victory.
Bryan Thomson made 38 saves on 42 shots in the loss while Julian Junca turned aside 28 of the 30 shots he faced in the win.
ICCU Three Stars
- Yaroslav Yevdokimov (TUL)
- Jared Hilderman (TUL)
- Dante Sheriff (TUL)
GAME NOTES
- Idaho went 1-for-2 on the power-play while Tulsa was 0-for-3.
- Tulsa outshot Idaho 43-30.
- Idaho is 22-15-4 all-time vs. Tulsa and 13-9-2 in Tulsa.
- Jordan Kawaguchi (IR), Sam Sternschein (IR), David Tendeck (IR), Jordan Kawaguchi (IR), and Nick Canade (DNP) did not dress for Idaho.
- Wade Murphy increased his point streak to three games while Colton Kehler, Francesco Arcuri, and Ben Zloty each tallied an assist.
- Will Merchant and Demetrios Koumontzis lead all Idaho skaters with five shots each.
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