OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla – Stop me if you have heard this before. Mississippi outshoots the Blazers, the Blazers take the lead, the Oklahoma City netminder plays well, but not enough to win and Mississippi wins in the Ford Center. The aforementioned has been the norm in this series and by using this template the RiverKings are one step away from advancing to the next round after the RiverKings won for the seventh consecutive time in Oklahoma City. Placed down by Simon Lambert’s power play goal early in the second period the RiverKings rallied to put the Blazers in danger of elimination. Oklahoma City committed a cardinal sin by allowing the RiverKings to score with under a minute to play in the middle period and then compounded the issue by giving the veteran RiverKings a five-on-three power play early in the final period. With time ticking out in the second period the RiverKings knotted the game when Jeff Alcombrack’s shot eluded Oklahoma City goaltender Doug Franck. Just seconds after the goal the Blazers Ted Vandermeer was penalized for holding the stick. With Vandermeer’s penalty less than a half minute away from expiring Tyler Harder was called for tripping. The Blazers managed to kill the five-on-three portion of the infractions, but just seconds after Vandermeer served his sentence, Louis Dumont pushed the puck passed Franck for the game-winner. Alcombrack was involved in the goal and he finished the evening with two points as did Dumont. Meanwhile Memphis goaltender Kevin Beech was lightly tested except for one Blazers chance in the waning seconds. Beech was forced to make only 19 saves over the course of the evening, a statistic the Blazers must improve upon if they wish to extend their season when they play on the road on Saturday evening. The sequence which led to the winning goal was met less than enthusiastically by Oklahoma City coach Doug Sauter who complained in the The Oklahoman about the call. Apparently Blazers captain Tyler Fleck was also upset with the officiating as he received a game misconduct for abuse of the officials after the contest was completed. Contact tom.schettino@prohockeynews.com.
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