Oilers Slip By Thunder On Sunday Afternoon

WICHITA, Kan. (Nov. 10) – Wichita led by a pair of goals on two separate occasions on Sunday afternoon, but Tulsa came out on top in a 5-3 win at INTRUST Bank Arena.

Artem Guryev, Luke Grainger and Joe Carroll each found the net for the Thunder. Gabriel Carriere suffered the loss, stopping 35 shots.

After a scoreless first period, Wichita took the lead just 2:37 into the second. Austin Heidemann intercepted a clearing attempt near the Oilers line and found Guryev. He skated in all alone and beat Talyn Boyko for his first of the year. 

At 4:22, Grainger netted his first in a Thunder uniform. Jay Dickman stole the puck below the goal line and fed it to Mitchell Russell. He slipped a pass to Grainger in the slot and he hammered a one-timer past Boyko to make it 2-0. 

Just two minutes later, Ruslan Gazizov put Tulsa on the board. Reid Petryk came into the zone on a two-on-one situation. He fed a pass over to Solag Bakich, who was stoned by Carriere. Bakich stayed with the play as the puck went behind the net. He found Gazizov at the left circle and he buried it to make it 2-1. 

Carroll answered for Wichita at 15:31 to make it 3-1. He fired a one-timer from the top of the left circle past Boyko for his second of the year. 

Alec Butcher made it 3-2 at 17:02 when he found a rebound near the left post and slipped it past Carriere. 

Petryk tied the game at 17:50 with a wrist shot from the right circle and recorded his first of the season.

In the third, Sasha Pastujov gave the Oilers their first lead of the game at 12:30. He caught up to a clearing attempt from Mike McKee during a Wichita power play. Pastujov skated in on a breakaway and beat Carriere with a backhand to the glove side for his eighth of the season.

Tulsa tacked on an empty-net goal at 19:31 to make it 5-3. Sean Olson was the recipient as he caught a pass in the slot from Pastujov and recorded his second of the year. 

Carroll has goals in back-to-back games and four points in three appearances this season. Guryev and Grainger recorded their first goals at the ECHL level. Michal Stinil has assists in back-to-back contests. Russell has points in back-to-back games. 

The Thunder went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Oilers were 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

Wichita closes its six-game homestand on Wednesday morning at 10:30 as rival, Kansas City, comes to town for the second time this season.

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