After back-to-back wins against the Brampton Beast, the Tulsa Oilers looked to continue their hot streak against the Rapid City Rush. The Rush sit just behind the Oilers in the Central Division of the Western Conference, standing at three games behind Tulsa.
In Thursday’s game, Tommy Mele seemed to give a quick notice of his return from Oklahoma City, scoring a goal that was ruled no good due to goalie interference.
Oilers goals leader Drew Fisher was quick to make up for the non-goal, scoring with just under eight minutes to go in the first period. After Rapid City made quick use of a two-man advantage to begin the second period, Tommy Mele scored a (legitimate) goal to draw the lead to 2–1.
A pair of goals by Rapid City’s Kale Kerbashian (no, seriously, I’m not making this name up) and Tulsa’s Nathan Lutz brought the score to 3–2 after two periods.
The third period is where things started to get hectic in the BOK Center. Rapid City tied the game at three goals apiece with a little over five minutes to go in the game and took the lead just over a minute later.
Tulsa’s Dave Pszenyczny tied the game only 32 seconds after the second Rush goal.
The high-scoring episode with a final Rush goal, by Jesse Schultz. The Oilers couldn’t regain the tie and fell victim to a 5–4 loss.
The Rush were able to stuff Tulsa again on Saturday night, winning 4–2 on “Pink In The Rink Night.” The man that ended Thursday’s game began Saturday’s, as Rapid City’s Jesse Schultz knocked in the first goal of the game.
This goal was the only one of the period, as the Oilers failed to score, even with near-constant pressure on the Rush goalie.
Jeff Jubinville scored the tying goal early in the second period. Rapid City took the second period to return to the hot streak they enjoyed in the Thursday game, scoring three goals in just under four minutes, on just eight shots on goal.
That would be plenty of offense for the Rush, as the final score was tallied by Tulsa’s Tommy Mele in the third period.
The weekend gave the Rush their third and fourth straight win and sent the Oilers to a .500 record in regulation games (21–21).
Tulsa takes to the road to play the Missouri Mavericks and the Quad City Mallards, before hosting the Mallards on Saturday night.
