Tulsa takes another shootout from Thunder

The Thunder’s hockey season may have restarted at some point without anyone noticing.

The same stories have seemingly been playing on a loop, making it nearly impossible to use any moment or game as a point of reference. Wichita struggles to score almost every night, has usually solid goaltending and has a recent history of futility at home.

The Thunder had a chance to break the malaise in trying for a season-best three-game winning streak on Friday night, but instead fell into another old habit. Tulsa beat Wichita 2-1 in a shootout at Intrust Bank Arena, the third time the Oilers have topped the Thunder in a shootout since Dec. 19 and the fifth time the teams have played beyond regulation.

“It’s just frustrating, doing that a couple times in a row,” Thunder forward Andy Huff said of the recent losses to Tulsa. “It’s kind of been recurring themes – we can’t seem to get that go-ahead goal or that shootout or overtime goal to put us ahead. But we’re definitely making a progress, and that’s a good thing.”

In spite of two road wins last week, the Thunder hasn’t scored more than three goals in any game since Nov. 25, and only three times in that 17-game stretch has Wichita topped two.

The last home win was also Nov. 25, which came during a stretch of 11 consecutive losses on the road. In winning games at Indy and Evansville last week, Wichita still couldn’t break the monotony, with a 26-23 shots advantage in both games.

The most telling repetition involving the Thunder has been the inability to score consistently. Even in Wichita’s nine wins, the three-goal threshold has been crossed twice. The Thunder has played eight 2-1 games and seven that ended 3-2.

Low-scoring doesn’t always equal success, either, as Wichita is 6-5-1-3 in those games.

“We’d like to open it up a little bit at home, but right now it isn’t happening,” Thunder coach Kevin McClelland said. “Right now we’ve got to make sure we keep getting points (in the standings).”

On Friday, any chance the Thunder had to create a new narrative occurred in the second period.

An important 19-second stretch started when Christian Isackson and Tulsa’s Brady Ramsay had an impromptu scuffle that led to a Thunder power play because Ramsay was additionally whistled for boarding.

Seconds into the power play and immediately after a fight charged the crowd of 5,258, Landon Oslanski scored for Wichita to tie it 1-1. The Thunder carried the emotional edge into the final minutes of the second but failed to score again.

“It definitely gets everybody going, gets the crowd into it a little more, gets the team into it,” Huff said. “We get a goal right after that, and that was a big reason why we scored, I think. Now we just need to get a couple more there and we’d be fine.”

The Thunder outshot Tulsa 4-0 in overtime before the lone shootout goal was scored by Ramsay to give Tulsa its fourth win over the Thunder this season, all 2-1 or 3-2 decisions.

“Both teams get up for each other a little bit and both are sort of defensive-oriented,” McClelland said. “(At least) right now, until we find a way to score some goals.”

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Tulsa takes another shootout from Thunder."