Oilers Defeat Grizz 4-2

Oilers Defeat Grizz 4-2

West Valley City, Utah – The Tulsa Oilers got goals from 4 different forwards as they defeated the Utah Grizzlies 4-2 on a Wednesday night at Maverik Center. Utah’s Johnny Walker scored his first pro goal and Charle-Edouard D’Astous delivered his team leading 24th of the season in the loss.

Tulsa’s Darren McCormick scored his 7th of the year 15:49 into the contest as he redirected a Duggie Lagrone shot. Oilers led 1-0 after 1 period.

Walker scored his first pro goal on the power play 10:11 into the second period. Walker scored 70 goals in his college career at Arizona State University. Tulsa retook the lead as Alex Gilmour slid one past Utah goaltender Trent Miner with 4:30 left in the 2nd. Tulsa led 2-1 after 2 periods. The Oilers are now 21-0-1-1 when leading after 2 periods.

D’Astous scored his 9th power play goal of the year 21 seconds into the 3rd. Both of Utah’s goals came on the power play as they went 2 for 3. Tulsa’s game winning goal was scored exactly halfway through the 3rd frame as Jack Doremus scored his 25th of the year from the left circle. Jackson leef scored an insurance goal 14:36 into the third to complete the scoring.

Tulsa outshot Utah 29 to 25. Oilers goaltender Daniel Mannella earned his league leading 23rd win of the season. He saved 23 of 25. Utah’s Trent Miner saved 25 of 29. Utah is now 3-2-1 vs Tulsa this season. Each of the previous 5 meetings were at BOK Center.

Utah’s 4 game home winning streak came to an end. The Grizz are 19-10 at home this season. 7 of their last 10 regular season games are at home. Utah is in first place in the division with a .605 points percentage with Rapid City in 2nd place at .583.

The 2nd game of the 3 game set is on Friday night at 7:10 pm. Tickets for every Grizzlies home game are available at utahgrizzlies.com or by calling (801) 988-8000.

3 stars

1. Jack Doremus (Tulsa) – GWG 10 minutes into the third period.
2. Darren McCormick (Tulsa) – 1 goal.
3. Charle-Edouard D’Astous (Utah) – 1 goal, 1 assist.