Stinil, Walker, Finnegan Pace Thunder Past Oilers

TULSA, OK (Oct. 26) – Wichita began a two-game road trip on Saturday night in Oklahoma, knocking off Tulsa by a 6-2 final at the BOK Center. 

Michal Stinil and Ryan Finnegan each had a pair of goals while Kobe Walker added three points. Gabriel Carriere was solid in net, stopping 30 shots for his first regulation win of his career. 

Stinil potted both of his goals in the first period to give the Thunder a 2-0 advantage. His first came at 7:40 when he crashed the net and jammed home a rebound for his fourth of the year.

He recorded his second of the game at 18:11 to make it 2-0. He navigated around a defender through the slot and beat Vyacheslav Buteyets for his fifth of the season.

Jaxsen Wiebe cut the lead to one early in the second period. He stole a pass at the left circle and fired a wrist shot past Carriere to make it 2-1. 

Finnegan re-gained a two-goal lead for Wichita at 12:47. He took a long outlet pass from Nolan Kneen and beat Buteyets for his first of the contest. 

Nico Somerville notched his first pro goal at 17:03 to make it 4-1. Wichita came into the zone with numbers and he fired a wrist shot from the left circle past Buteyets' blocker. 

Walker tallied his second of the year at 18:47 to make it 5-1. During a broken play, Bucheler kept a puck in the zone on the right wall, fired a shot towards the slot and Walker redirected past Buteyets.

Sasha Pastujov scored a power play tally at 5:03 of the third to make it 5-2. He took a shot from the top of the right circle for his third of the season. 

Finnegan closed the scoring at 8:21 to make it 6-2. Jake Wahlin made a nifty play to win a battle, got the puck over to Finnegan and buried his third of the year.

Stinil tallied his first two-goal game of the season, added an assist and continues on his torrid pace. He has 10 points (5g, 5a) in four games, goals in four-straight and extended his point-streak dating back from last season to nine games. 

Peter Bates tallied two helpers while Wahlin added an assist, giving both players 100 ECHL points. Walker finished with a goal and two assists. Bucheler has three points in his last two outings. Finnegan tallied his first two-goal game of the year and all three of his goals have come on the road.

Wichita closes its brief road swing on Wednesday night with a trip to Texas to face Allen for the first time this season.

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