The Wichita Thunder found themselves quickly trailing in Wednesday night’s contest, falling behind 3-0 before attempting to rebound. However, a Darik Angeli goal 24-seconds into the third period, his second goal of the game, thwarted a late Thunder comeback and the Tulsa Oilers won a tight affair 4-3. That moved the Oilers to 12-5-1-0 and dropped Wichita to 7-6-0-0.

The Thunder had the first four shots of the first period, and then the Oilers took over. At 8:30, Wichita was unable to clear the puck from out behind their own net. Chris Joyaux stole the puck from behind the net and passed out to Shawn Bates who one-timed the puck. It wound up creeping under the pads of Thunder goalie Scott Greenham and into the net to make it 1-0.

At the 11:03 mark Tulsa extended their lead. The Oilers pushed the puck into the Thunder end but two defenders got tangled up allowing Adam Pleskach and Angeli to go in on a 2-0 break. Pleskach passed across the crease to Angeli who tipped it in to make it 2-0.

With a little less than three minutes left in the period Tulsa would extend their lead. Christophe Lalancette picked up the puck in the corner and carried it out right in front of the net, back-handing it past Greenham for his fourth goal of the season to make it a three-goal lead.

The first period ended with the Tulsa Oilers on top 3-0 and they had dominated the shots as well, 16-7. In the second the Thunder took charge of the game. They outshot Tulsa 15-10 and finally got on the scoreboard.

With the Thunder on the power-play, Landon Oslanski took a shot from the point that he only got a piece of. The puck sputtered toward the goal where Gabriel Gagne corralled it and turned to his back-hand, putting it up and into the goal for his third goal of the season.

It would be 3-1 entering the third, but the Oilers quickly put a damper on the crowd when Angeli scored his third goal of the season 24-seconds into the period. Wes Cunningham fired a shot from the point that hit just off the crossbar and bounced out. The puck came around to him again and he fired another shot that Angeli tipped into the goal to make it 4-1.

For the next 15-minutes the Thunder were struggling to get back into the game. Tulsa dominated the action but a power-play with a little under five minutes left in the game gave them the chance to get back into it. That is exactly what they did.

At the 16:30 mark, Nick Trecapelli took a shot from the point that was saved by Jamie Phillips. Gabriel Gagne put a shot back on net that was saved, but the puck came to the side of the goal where Alexis Loiseau scooped it up and put it into the net for his 11th goal of the season.

A little over a minute later the Thunder would get back on the board. Blake Tatchell gained control of the puck in front of the net and put the biscuit over the shoulder of Phillips for his second goal of the season.

The Thunder were down by one and had 2:18 left in the contest. They put the pressure on but were unable to get one more goal past Phillips. The game would end 4-3.

Angeli finished with 2-goals and an assist for the Oilers. Lalancette had a goal and 2-assists. Phillips made 27-saves. The Wichita Thunder were led by Gabriel Gagne and Alexis Loiseau who each had a goal and an assist.

Both of these team are off tomorrow, but they face off against one another again on Friday night in Wichita. The puck drops at 7:05.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier