Officially, the Blazers lost to Tulsa by two goals Saturday night.
Unofficially, most in the Ford Center crowd of 9,325 wondered if the Blazers lost at all.
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Tulsa's 4-2 win over Oklahoma City was really a one-goal game; it ended with an empty net goal by the Oilers with six seconds left.
And, according to the booing from the crowd and the Blazers' post-game comments, it should have been a tie game after three periods.
With 3:31 left, the Blazers' Jared Dumba appeared to score a wraparound goal, tying the game 3-3. But referee Paul Mariconda waved off the goal and gave Tulsa's Jaroslav Cesky a penalty for knocking the goal off its moorings.
"You can see on the replay that it was a goal," Blazers coach Doug Sauter said. "But from Mariconda's vantage point, they pushed the net off and he gave them a penalty. I think the puck was in, but he (Mariconda) has always got to be in the scheme of things.
"He always has to make the big decisions. You can go back and look at all the games he's reffed here. Even though it's only one or two a year, he always puts himself in the middle of a controversy and it is always negative toward us."
The Blazers had 46 shots on goal, nearly doubling Tulsa's total of 24. While the Blazers' record dipped to 8-3-2, the Oilers rose to 6-6-2.
"It was great entertainment and a phenomenal game, like always," Tulsa coach Butch Kaebel said. "It's funny, because before the third period we gave a speech about how the guys from Oklahoma City will not quit. We're aware of exactly what they've done."
"We had great effort, but tonight we couldn't win it in the last minute," Sauter said. "We pretty well doubled the shots on them, but our power play was our downfall tonight."
The Blazers had all eight shots on goal in the opening nine minutes, and Tulsa had only one power play in the period — but it ended with the first goal of the game.
After being outshot 11-2, Tulsa scored a freak power play goal 14:04 into the game. Mike Wiggins' steep-angle shot ricocheted off goalie Sebastien Centomo's left leg pad and back into the net.
Two minutes into the second period, the Blazers had 17 shots on goal and the Oilers had three. But at the 2:19 mark of the period, Tulsa had a 2-0 lead, when left winger Spencer Carbery scored on a two-on-one rush.
The Blazers scored the next two goals in the game, over a five-minute span, to tie the score 2-2 midway through the second period.
Those goals came from Dumba, who scored in-close, with assists from Marc Connors and Marty Standish, and on a slapshot by Mike Burgoyne, with an assist to Dallas Flaman.
Burgoyne's game-tying goal came just a few seconds after Blazers goaltender Centomo somehow stopped a two-on-one Tulsa rush.
Tulsa regained the lead six minutes later, when Wiggins scored his second power play goal of the game, on a five on three advantage.
The Blazers outshot Tulsa 34-12 in the first two periods, yet trailed 3-2.
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