The Tahoe Knight Monsters took on the Tulsa Oilers on Friday. Puck drop was at 7:30 PM. The game was at the Tahoe Blue Event Center. It was the ninth game of the season. The Knight Monsters were coming off of a 4-0 victory over the Tulsa Oilers. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had a record of 5-2-1. The Knight Monsters were in 15th place in the ECHL. The Knight Monsters were 7th in the Western Conference and 5th in the Mountain Division. The Tulsa Oilers are the ECHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks. The Oilers played ten games. The Oilers were coming off of a 0-4 loss to the Tahoe Knight Monsters. The Oilers had a record of 6-3-1. The Oilers were in 9th place in the ECHL. The Oilers were in 4th place in the Western Conference and 2nd place in the Mountain Division.
The Tulsa Oilers played two more games. The Oilers had one more win. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had the better points percentage. The Oilers had scored eleven more goals. The Oilers had allowed five more goals. The Oilers had the better goal differential. The Oilers had two more points. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had 95 penalty minutes. The Tulsa Oilers had 119 penalty minutes. Goaltending had played a big role in Wednesdays game. The Tulsa Oilers could not find the back of the net. The Tahoe Knight Monsters played their best game so far of the season. Would the Oilers make a lot of unforced errors again? Would goaltending be a big factor again? Would the Knight Monsters continue to roll through the Oilers? Would the Oilers bounce back and tie the second game of this series?
#30 Jordan Papirny was in net for the Tahoe Knight Monsters again. #35 Talyn Boyko got the start in net for the Tulsa Oilers. On Thursday, Defender Roman Kinal was recalled from the Tulsa Oilers by the San Diego Gulls. On Friday, the Tulsa Oilers activated defender Kylor Wall and forward Josh Nelson.
Seven minutes into the game #23 Jake Johnson of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for slashing. Fifteen minutes into the game, #24 Mike McKee of the Tulsa Oilers received a penalty for boarding. With under a minute left in the first period, the Tulsa Oilers took the lead. Jaxsen Wiebe scored the goal. His goal was assisted by #38 Sasha Pastujov.
The score was 1-0 Tulsa Oilers after the first period.
Five minutes into the second period, #27 Austin Albrecht of the Tulsa Oilers received a penalty for slashing. Eleven minutes into the period, Ruslan Gazizov of the Oilers received a penalty for high-sticking. With under five minutes left in the second period, the Tahoe Knight Monsters tied the game. The goal was scored by #12 Bear Hughes. His goal was assisted by #21 Sloan Stanick. On the rush, Hughes passed the puck to Stanick. Stanick put the puck on net. The puck was behind the goalie but stopped in the crease. Hughes tapped it in. This was a solid effort by the team. They did not give up on the play.
With under three minutes to go in the second period, the Oilers retook the lead. #13 Alec Butcher scored the goal. It was his 100th professional goal. It was assisted by #6 Jack Clement and #37 Jaxsen Wiebe. The Oilers created a two-on-one on the rush. On Knight Monsters defender was covering the pass. Two more defenders were trailing the play. Butcher had time and space. He put a move on Papirny and scored. The Knight Monsters were out of position trying to back check. The defender does the right thing by trying to block the pass. Butcher just had too much space and the trailing defender could not catch up.
The score was 2-1 Tulsa Oilers after the second period.
Four minutes into the third period, #8 Reed Petryk of the Tulsa Oilers received a penalty for tripping. It looked like knee on knee contact. Petryk should have been ejected. It did not look like the officials were paying attention when it happened. It seemed like they all looked away. Petryk got another penalty seven minutes into the third period for delay of game. The Oiler then scored a short handed goal. #16 Justin Michaelian scored the goal. His goal was assisted by #27 Autin Albrecht and #10 Anthony Costantini. The short handed goal gave the Oilers a two goal lead.
Fourteen minutes into the third period, the Oilers scored again. #27 Austin Albrecht scored the goal. It was assisted by #32 Ruslan Gazizov and #8 Reid Petryk. The Oilers were cycling the puck in the Tahoe Knight Monsters end. Gazizov took a one timer that went wide. The puck went off the boards behind the net and back towards the front of the net. Albrecht got the puck and scored. Papirny tried to get back to block the shot but couldn’t get there in time. This play seems like lazy or tired defending on the Knight Monsters part. They were slow to get into position and slow to guard. They were not really challenging for the puck. This goal gave the Oilers a three goal lead.
Eight seconds after the goal, #96 Brennan Kapcheck of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for boarding, #10 Jett Jones of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for roughing, and #27 Austin Albrecht of the Oilers received a penalty for roughing. This started out as a dump and chase play. An oilers player went to get the puck behind the Knight Monsters goal. From where I was it looked like a clean hit and the Oilers player hit the boards awkwardly. Albrecht grabbed Kapcheck by the head from behind after the hit. Jones stepped in to stand up for Kapcheck. With under three minutes left in the game, #48 Anthony Collins of the Tahoe Knight Monsters fought #14 Solag Backich of the Oilers. Both players would leave the ice after the fight. Both players received five minute major penalties for fighting. The final score was 4-1 Tulsa Oilers.
https://echl.com/videos/tulsa-oilers-vs-tahoe-knight-monsters-nov-15-2024
It was a tough loss. Most of the game was pretty close. It was a definitely a goalie battle. Both goaltenders made some huge saves to keep their teams in the game. The game got out of hand for the Tahoe Knight Monsters in the third period. The Tulsa Oilers were controlling the pace of this game. They had a lot of time in the Tahoe Knight Monsters end. The Knight Monsters were having issues all game. Their passes were sloppy. They They were making a lot of unforced errors. It seemed like the Knight Monsters had a low effort performance. They were not attacking like they should have been on the defensive side of things. They were letting the Oilers pretty much do whatever they wanted. They were caught out of position a lot too. The Knight Monsters had plenty of opportunities on the powerplay but were not generating scoring chances on the powerplay. That is kind of a disappointment considering how well their powerplay has been. The series is now tied at two games with tonight being the tie breaker.
The Tulsa Oilers had one more shot. The Oilers had the better shot percentage. The Tulsa Oilers had six more penalty minutes. #30 Jordan Papirny saved 30 shots for a 88% save percentage for the Knight Monsters. #35 Talyn Boyko saved 32 shots for a 97% save percentage for the Oilers.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters now have a record of 5-3-1 with 11 points in 9 games. The Knight Monsters are now in 18th place in ECHL. They are in 9th place in the ECHL Western Conference. They are still in 5th place in the ECHL Western Conference Mountain Division. They are two points away from the last playoff spot. They are still four points away from the top spot in the division. They have the 3rd highest points percentage in the division.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters will take on the Tulsa Oilers for game ten on Saturday, November 16th. It will be a home game. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM. This is another divisional game.
Zac Electrifly 
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