Tulsa, Oklahoma – The Allen Americans, ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, and AHL’s Belleville Senators, played the first game of a back-to-back on Friday night in Tulsa, and it was the Americans coming out on top 4-2 at the BOK Center.
The Americans scored two times in the opening period. Blake Murray opened the scoring just 37 seconds into the first period with his 15th goal of the season. Easton Brodzinski and Eric Williams had the assists. Later in the period, Bennett MacArthur found a lane in front of the Oilers cage firing a shot past Tulsa goalie Troy Kobryn for his 7th of the season at 17:18 of the first. The Americans took a 2-0 lead to the room after one period of play.
The two teams traded goals in the second period. The Oilers cut the Allen lead to 2-1, as Kishaun Gervais scored his 8th of the season at the 3:16 mark. The score remained that way until 8:20 of the period when Bennett MacArthur found Grant Hebert open in the slot and he fired the puck into the Oilers net for his 8th of the season to give the Americans their two-goal lead back 3-1. The Oilers outshot the Americans 22-8 in the second period.
The Americans held their two-goal lead until late in the game. Tulsa’s Karl Boudrais scored the second Oilers goal of the night with just 3:01 left in the game to cut the lead to 3-2. Tulsa pulled goalie Troy Kobryn with less than a minute to play and the Americans put the final dagger in the Oilers, as Eric Williams scored into the empty net to seal the victory for Allen 4-2.
“This was a clutch win for us,” said Americans Head Coach Chad Costello. “We traveled four hours on the day of the game and took the two points.They are right ahead of us in the standings, so it was really a four point win.”
The two teams will face-off again tomorrow afternoon in Allen on O’Reilly McDonalds Day. Come see Ronald McDonald, Hamburgler, and Grimace.Tickets are available online at the Americans Website. Game time is 4:10 PM CST.
Three Stars:
1. ALN - M. Costantini
2. ALN - B. MacArthur
3. TUL - K. Gervais
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