PHN Photo Essay – Allen Americans @ Tulsa Oilers 01/14/12

Tulsa, Okla. – The Allen Americans faced the Tulsa Oilers on the road Saturday night at the BOK Center – this being the fourth time the teams have faced each other in the regular season.

Tulsa had been undefeated in the season series against Allen to this point but Allen ended that streak in dominant fashion.

Allen drew first blood near the mid-point of the first period when Jeff Martens scored his first goal as an American at 8:46, assisted by Greg Brown for his first point as an American. Aaron McGill then followed suit, scoring his first point as an American, netting a goal to extend the Allen lead to 2-0 at the 14:10 mark. The lone assist went to Tyler Ludwig. Topping off the scoring for Allen in the opening period was CHL All-Star starter Bruce Graham, netting his 19th goal of the season at 18:40. Colton Yellow Horn and Trevor Hendrikx assisted on the Graham goal. Allen outshot the Oilers 9-8 and led at the first intermission, 3-0.

Allen continued their domination in the second period, gaining a commanding 4-0 lead when Tyler Ludwig fired a rocket past Ian Keserich off a pass from Bruce Graham. Keserich, who is always tough against the Americans, was then chased from the net in favor of newcomer Steve Christie. The Oilers were finally able to get on the board at the 7:40 mark when Dylan Clarke found the back of the net for Tulsa off passes by David Solway and Mike Ullrich. The Americans shunted the Oilers attempt at a momentum change and answered back with another goal late in the period. Nick Layton scored to give the Americans their four goal lead back, 5-1 at 14:24 with assists going to Graham and Colton Yellow Horn. The Americans once again out shot the Oilers 12-5 in the period for a two period total of 21-13.

Tulsa scored their second goal of the game at 8:24 of the third period when Luke Lucyk beat a screened Rejean Beauchemin, assisted by Dylan Clarke and David Solway on the power play, cutting the deficit to 5-2. Despite out shooting Allen 12-8 through the third period, the Oilers could not mount a comeback and were limited to the lone goal by Lucyk. The game total in shots on goal was 29-25 in favor of Allen. Pro Hockey News’ Chip Crail recorded all the action at the BOK Center on Saturday night and has submitted the following images from the contest.