Tulsa and Allen entered Thursday’s Kids Day game at the BOK Center with 1-3 records and each looking for their second ECHL win of the season. And for most of the game it was hard to tell who wanted it most.
In the end it went Allen’s way as Matt Marcinew completed a hat track with shot just 58 seconds into overtime to lift the Americans to a 6-5 victory before a crowd of 6,835.
Michael Farren fired a shot that went past sprawled out Allen goalie Mark Sinclair at 13:08 to tie the game at 5-5, and the Oilers outshot the Americans 48-27, but it was not enough.
“We put ourselves down 5-2 which we never should have been in that situation,” said Oilers coach Rob Murray. “A lot of credit for the guys to fight back and get the game 5-5. When you are down 5-2 and end up getting a point out of the game you can take something out of that. But it should have never got that way.
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“They (Allen) had four goals on 11 shots. I don’t have to say any more than that. That is the difference in the game quite honestly.”
Murray felt he did not get complete effort from some team members.
“We had a few passengers out there and it kind of made a difference in the long run,” Murray said. “We were hoping they would bring more and they didn’t.”
Tulsa’s Eddie Matsushima recorded his first multi-point game of the season with a goal and two assists.
First period
Kyle Crnkovic put Tulsa on the scoreboard with his first pro goal at 3:05 of the first period. With a defender in front of him. Crnkovic turned around and fired from the top of the face-off circle to put the Oilers up 1-0. Luke Profaca, in his Oilers debut, picked up the first of his two assists.
At 11:07, Matsushima took a pass from Farren and fired down the slot to put the Oilers up 2-0.
The Americans answered with their first goal just 49 seconds later on a shot by Marcinew. That goal opened the flood gates as Philip Daoust tied the game at 16:32 and Colby McAuley fired in a power play shot at 17:01 giving the Americans a 3-2 lead.
Second period
Julian Junca made his first U.S. pro appearance replacing Gage Alexander in goal early in the second period after Alexander gave up his fourth goal. Marcinew picked up his second goal of the game with a shot that went past Alexander on his stick side at 2:58 giving the Americans a 4-2 lead.
Mikael Robidoux took advantage of Junca being out of the goal crease to put the Americans up 5-2 with a shot that went behind Junca at 15:26.
However, the Oilers started a run of their own on a shot from in front of the Americans net at 16:43 by Farren. At 18:07, Tyler Poulsen scored and the period ended with Allen in front 5-4.
The Oilers return to the BOK Center ice on Friday for a rematch with the Americans at 7:05.
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