The Brahmas celebrate on the ice after Scott Sheppard's OT goal

Brahmas win another thriller in overtime!

Bulls defeat the upstart Tulsa Oilers 5-4

For the second night in a row, the Texas Brahmas won in overtime in dramatic fashion. This time it was the Tulsa Oilers who went home in defeat. It was the sixth straight win for the Brahmas and the sixth straight loss for the Oilers. With the win, the Brahmas improved to 30-10-4 and 64 points, leading the Laredo Bucks by 12 points in the Southeast Division and tying the Odessa Jackalopes for first place in the Southern Conference.

The Brahmas have now won 17 of its last 20 games and have finished January with a 12-1-1 record and won its league-high eighth in a row at home and sixth overall. They are now 5-1 in overtime matches this season.

"We are getting lucky right now," Sheppard said of consecutive overtime wins. "We definitely don’t want to keep doing it, though."

There was no scoring and only two penalties (a minor for each squad) in an aggressive first period. Tulsa outshot the Brahmas 11-9 in the first 20 minutes (Tulsa took 11 shots in each period in regulation).

The Oilers' leading scorer, Jeff Christian, took advantage of a double-minor called against Mike Vellinga to open the scoring in the second period. Christian deflected a powerplay shot from Brendon Hodge past David Cacciola at the 3:15 mark to make it 1-0. Michel Beausoleil was also credited with the assist.

The Brahmas answered with a powerplay goal of their own 72 seconds later when Tyler Skworchinski was set up by Nathan Saunders and Jordan Cameron and drove the puck past Kevin St. Pierre to make it 1-1.

Tulsa scored two more times in the period. The first, an even-strength goal at the 10:03 mark was scored by left wing Jake Riddle. Kevin Hansen and Brendan Hodge were credited with the assist.

The next goal came at the 13:08 mark. Center Bobby Reed, who has the distinction of being the only member of the Oilers to play in every game this season, scored the only short-handed goal against the Brahmas this season. Kevin Hansen and Cody Hamilton were in on the assist and the Oilers took a 3-1 lead.

The Brahmas rallied before the end of the period and scored on a powerplay at the 16:28 mark to narrow the Oilers lead to 3-2. This time, it was defenseman Kevin McLeod who found the back of the net with the assist from Grant Jacobsen and Tyler Skworchinski.

The Brahmas led the shot count in the middle period at 17-11.

Scott Sheppard scored his first of the evening 5:43 into the third period to tie the game at 3-3. Jordan Cameron and Pete Rouleau assisted. Grant Jacobsen gave the Brahmas their first lead of the night when he took a feed from Tyler Skworchinski and Kevin McLeod and slapped the puck past Kevin St. Pierre to make it 4-3.

There was still a lot of hockey left to play with 8:31 left in the final period. Brendon Hodge managed to force the game into overtime after beating David Cacciola to get his 16th goal of the season at the 16:42 mark. Kevin Seibel and Jake Riddle were credited with the assist. Once again the Brahmas lead the shot count at 13-11 in the period and 39-33 in regulation.

It only took the Brahmas two shots to win it in overtime. Scott Sheppard’s second goal came at the 3:59 mark, giving the Brahmas their second OT victory in as many nights.

David Cacciola got the win, stopping 32 of 36 shots. His record improved to 9-5-0-1.

The Brahmas were assessed 10 minutes on five penalties. The Oilers were assessed 16 minutes on 8 penalties. The Brahmas went two for seven on the powerplay. The Oilers went one for four.

You can view the box score here

You can view my photos from the game here

The Brahmas will host the Colorado Eagles on Friday, February 6th at the NYTEX Sports Centre. It is the only game scheduled between the two teams during the regular season and is their first meeting since game seven of the Northern Conference finals on April 23rd of last year.

The game begins at 7:05pm and will be broadcast on Nifty-TV but you are nuts if you don't make this one in person.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith