Wichita, Kan. (Feb. 14) - Wichita returned home on Valentine's Day to host the front half of a home-and-home and fell on Friday night to Tulsa, 7-1, at INTRUST Bank Arena. The loss puts the Thunder two points behind the Oilers in sixth place in the Mountain Division.
Fabrizio Ricci scored the lone Thunder goal with helpers from Garrett Schmitz and Lane Bauer.
Tulsa got off to a hot start in the first period, scoring three times. Ian McNulty got it started at 5:37 as he fired a wrist shot from the deep slot to make it 1-0. Tulsa grabbed a 2-0 lead just three minutes later when Charlie Sampair pounced on a rebound off a shot from J.J. Piccinich and he beat Mitch Gillam. The Oilers capped off the opening frame with a goal from Adam Pleskach to make it 3-0.
McNulty gave the Oilers a 4-0 advantage at 5:43 of the second period as he redirected a pass from Jack Nevins past Gillam. Ricci broke the shutout bid at 6:27 when he found a rebound in front of the net and put it home to make it 4-1.
Tulsa pulled away with three more in the third as Pleskach, McNulty and Sampair each scored to make it 7-1.
Ricci tallied his 10th of the season. Schmitz extended his point-streak to five games with an assist.
The two teams will head to Tulsa tomorrow night to play at 7:05 p.m. at the BOK Center.
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