TULSA, Okla. – All good things, and winning streaks, must come to an end. And as it turns out, for the Missouri Mavericks, Sunday was the day that the fourth-longest winning streak in ECHL history would come to an end.
The Tulsa Oilers used a pair of power play goals and a plethora of shots to snap Missouri’s 14-game winning streak in front of a crowd of 5,226 on Sunday evening at the BOK Center. The Oilers never trailed in the shot department, posting 41 shots on goal, as they battled back from a 2-1 deficit after one period of play to claim a 4-3 win.
Andrew Courtney put Missouri on top early, scoring on the power play one minute into the opening frame. With Tulsa’s Emerson Clark in the penalty box for hooking, Courtney took control of a Carter Verhaeghe pass and released a shot from the right circle, beating Kevin Carr for a 1-0 lead. Kane Lafranchise assisted on the goal.
Dan DeSalvo evened the score five minutes later, stealing the puck off of Trevor Ludwig’s stick behind the Mavericks net and beating Parker Milner glove side on a wrap around at 6:20.
Sebastien Sylvestre put the Mavericks back on top just over five minutes later, adding his sixth goal of the season off a rebound with assists from Kyle Burroughs and Ludwig.
The lead would last for nearly 15-minutes before a barrage of Tulsa shots would turn things around for the Oilers.
Clark tied the game 6:34 into the second period, scoring his team leading ninth goal on a power play. With Milner caught out of position following a blast from the point by Matt Konan, Clark gathered the puck and poked it home from the left side of the net. DeSalvo picked up the secondary assist on the play.
Tulsa took the lead for the first time just under four minutes later, when Ben Walker netted his fifth goal of the season to make it 3-2. As Brian Nugent advanced the puck down the right wing, Walker slipped behind Sylvestre, took a centering pass from Nugent, and backhanded the puck above Milner’s stick side for the score.
The Oilers would hold the lead as the two teams went into the second intermission with Tulsa having out-shot Missouri 19-7 in the period.
The Mavericks tied the game on their second power play goal of the night 4:13 into the final period. Tanner Fritz grabbed a Rocco Carzo pass, skated back to the top of the right circle, then marched in on net and beat Carr stick side to knot the score 3-3.
The deadlock would remain for eight minutes before Tulsa would take the lead for good.
With the Oilers on the power play, Mathieu Brisebois took a pass from Konan and blasted a shot from the top of the right circle that beat Milner to make it 4-3 at 12:32 of the third. From there, Carr and the Oilers would hold on and ride out the remaining moments of the Mavericks’ streak.
The win puts Tulsa back at the .500 mark, with a 10-10-1-1 record, while Missouri falls to 19-3-0-1. The Oilers have now defeated the Mavericks in two of three meetings this season. The two teams will meet again when Missouri returns to the BOK Center on Jan. 5.
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