Oilers Lose Heartbreaker In OT

Tulsa falls to Bossier-Shreveport 3-2 in overtime, decisive game 5 will be Saturday night

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:21 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Apr 22, 2011 11:40 PM CDT

Keith Leventhal
Oklahoma Sports Mobile Journalist

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Tulsa Oilers were on the brink of history. With a win on Friday night, they’d be making their first trip to the conference finals since 1996.

Unfortunately, history is going to have to wait another day.

Tulsa and Bossier-Shreveport played game 4 of their Berry Conference semifinal series on Friday night at the BOK Center. And it was the Oilers that struck first. In the middle of the first, Bates Battaglia put his own rebound into the net to give Tulsa a 1-0 lead.

The Oilers had several good chances in the 2nd to add to that lead, but weren’t able to capitalize on any of them. On the other end, the Mudbugs really only had one good chance. But they made that chance count as Jim Jorgensen scored the game tying goal.

Bossier-Shreveport kept that momentum going in the 3rd period. Jeff Kyrzakos scored just 5 minutes into the 3rd to put the Mudbugs up 2-1. However, Tulsa wouldn’t go away and 8 minutes later, Michel Beausoleil poked one into the net to tie the game at 2. Tulsa had a chance late in the 3rd to score the game winner, but they couldn’t capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play. So, the game went to overtime tied at 2.

The Oilers had quite a few good opportunities in OT. But again, they were unable to get anything to break their way. Bossier-Shreveport only had a couple good chances. And again, they were able to strike. Seven and a half minutes into overtime, the Tulsa defense lost Andy Contois just long enough that he got open in front of the net. And that was all he needed to score the game winner.

So, with the 3-2 win, Bossier-Shreveport evens the series at 2 games a piece. And that means it comes down to a winner-take-all game 5. That game will be on Saturday night in Bossier City. The puck drops at 7:05 PM.