On St. Patrick's Day, the Blazers stopped their club-record-tying losing streak at O'Six, and the O'verdue win came in O'vertime.
The Blazers ended their six-game losing streak Saturday night, coming from behind to beat Tulsa 4-3 with 58.3 seconds left in overtime, before a crowd of 12,329 at the Ford Center.
Advertisement
High-scoring defenseman Mike Burgoyne got the game-winning goal on a rocket from the point, off a pass from Michel Beausoleil.
It was Burgoyne's 20th goal of the season and team-high 10th on a power play.
The Blazers' other goals came from three players who had been struggling to score. Jaroslav Cesky scored his fifth goal in 25 Blazers games. Marc Connors scored for the first time in 14 games. And Joe Dustin scored his first goal in 22 games, since returning to Oklahoma City after earning a bachelor's degree from Wisconsin-River Falls.
The Blazers, in their first home game since going 0-5-1 on a long road trip, tied Youngstown for the fourth seed in the CHL North playoffs. And the Blazers have five games to play, one more than the SteelHounds.
Tulsa took a one-point lead over Wichita for the sixth and final CHL North playoff spot, and the Oilers have five games left, one more than Wichita.
Dustin's first goal of the season tied the game with 1:30 left in the third period.
The Blazers tied Tulsa three times but did not take the lead until Burgoyne's game-winner.
"It was a great shot by Mike, with traffic in front of the net, and we got all we could ask for out of it,” Dustin said.
When ex-Blazer Jared Dumba fired in a goal with 35 seconds left on a four-minute power play, Tulsa led 3-2 with 3:52 left in the second period. And the Oilers had taken 32 shots, Oklahoma City only 16.
But the Blazers outshot 27-8 over the final 23:52 of regulation and 3-2 in the overtime.
Cesky continued his solid play against the team that traded him in January. He has scored two goals and four points in three games against Tulsa. He has three goals and six points in 22 other Blazers games.
"I'm always excited to play Tulsa, especially now that it's a race for the playoffs for both of us,” Cesky said.
Prev
