TULSA, OK. – The Idaho Steelheads (41-23-6-1) defeated the Tulsa Oilers (27-37-5-0) 4-1 on Saturday night at BOK Center. The Steelheads wrap up the three-game set and their regular season schedule on Sunday with a 2:05 p.m. MT battle with the Oilers from downtown Tulsa.
After falling behind early in Friday’s contest, the Steelheads returned the favor to the Oilers on Saturday, taking a 1-0 lead on a Tulsa turnover right up the middle of the ice as Jordan Steinmetz went bar down for his fifth goal of the season.
While the Steelheads carried their lead into the middle frame, their fortunes would change in the second period. Tyler Poulsen gave the Oilers their equalizer halfway into the period with a power play tally for his 11th goal of the season, and fourth against the Steelheads.
After earning a power play late in the second period, the Steelheads capitalized on it early in the third, with Kaleb Pearson wiring the puck past Vyacheslav Buteyets for his 26th of the season and a 2-1 Steelheads advantage.
Pearson’s 27th soon followed, as he struck from the slot seven minutes later to extend the Idaho lead to 3-1.
Looking for more, Idaho found one final tally in the final half of the frame, as Morgan Winters snuck a shot past Buteyets for his fourth goal of the season and a 4-1 Steelheads lead. The goal chased Buteyets from the game in the final moments, with Jake Sibell replacing him for the final 6:41 of what went on to be a 4-1 win for Idaho.
Idaho’s Jake Barczewski stopped 27 of 28 shots in the win, while Vyacheslav Buteyets turned aside 27 of 31 shots in the loss. Jake Sibell stopped the lone shot he saw in relief.
ICCU THREE STARS
1) Kaleb Pearson (IDH, 2-0-2, +1, 3 shots)
2) Jordan Steinmetz (IDH, 1-0-1, +2, 4 shots)
3) Tyler Poulsen (TUL, 1-0-1, -1, 4 shots)
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