The Blazers’ Ted Vandermeer falls to the ice after a run-in with Justin KinnunenScott Sheppard scored with six seconds left in overtime to give the Brahmas their sixth straight road win over the Oklahoma City Blazers tonight at the Ford Center. It was Sheppards' second goal of the night. The Brahmas improve to 22-9-3 with 47 points to tie the Odessa Jackalopes for the lead in the Southern Conference.
The game was the second nail-biter in a row with the Blazers playing hard and fast throughout.
The Blazers, who lead the league in scoring first, did just that when Jason Murfitt and Jeff MacDermid set up Simon Lambert who took a shot that was blocked by Doug Groenestege but Lambert was get the rebound, shooting the puck through the legs of Jaeger for the 1-0 score.
Dan Wildfong pulled Brett Jaeger a couple of times in the first few minutes in favor of the extra attacker, to no avail.
The Blazers had two goals called no good due to a hand pass at the 8:35 and 9:41 marks.
The Blazers continued on the attack, playing more like they did at the start of the season than as of late. After an interference call on Justin Kinnunen, the Blazers went on the powerplay and scored 30 seconds in. Chad Hinz avoided being boxed in by Scott Sheppard and was able to send the puck to Jason Murfitt who took a wrist shot from the top of the circle and managed to put it into the net past the high glove side of Jaeger. Simon Lambert was credited with the assist.
The period ended with the Blazers leading both in shots at 16-9 and the score at 2-0. The Brahmas seemed a little disorganized at times and were called for four straight minors.
The second period started with some four-on-four play but neither team capitalized. After a physical start to the period, the Brahmas scored at the 10:02 mark. Tyler Skworchinski skated the puck around the back of the net and passed it to Nathan Saunders at the blue line. Saunders sent the pass to Scott Sheppard who was straddling the goal line and worked the puck past Groenestege to make it 2-1.
The Brahmas play remained disciplined and aggressive and they kept the Blazers on the back of their heels.
A little over two minutes later at the 12:15 mark, the Brahmas got their second powerplay goal when Craig Minard and Jordan Cameron set up Grant Jacobsen who took a shot from about 30' away. The puck went into the net on a 90-degree deflection off the skate of Reagan Leslie to tie the game at two.
30 seconds later, Reagan Leslie had the puck at the Blazer blue line and lost it to Jordan Cameron who took possession and went on a breakaway from the left wing side. He was able to score, giving the Brahmas a 3-2 lead. It was the Brahmas league-leading 11th short-handed goal of the season.
The Blazers began to lose discipline after that. Doug Groenestege was assessed a 10 minute Abuse of Officials Misconduct after the Brahmas score when he apparently shot the puck towards a linesman.
Tyler Fleck was sent to the penalty box at the 16:23 mark for roughing after going after Matt Quinn who had put a hard hit on Stacey Bauman, sending him into the end boards.
Doug Groenestege took another unsportsmanlike conduct call (served by Jeff MacDermid) at the 18:03 mark, giving the Brahmas a two-man advantage for 21 seconds. The period ended without any further scoring.
The Blazers outshot the Brahmas again in the middle period, this time 8-7 but the story of the period was the three Texas goals in two minutes and forty-three seconds.
Whatever Doug Sauter told his team during the second intermission worked as the Blazer came out and started playing like they did in the beginning. Things started going the Blazers way as a result.
The Blazers managed to score the equalizer at the 6:23 mark when D.J. Jelitto fed the puck to Ted Vandermeer who was able to pick up some speed through the neutral zone and fire the puck past Brett Jaeger and into the net. Chad Hinz was also credited with the assist.
Hinz scored at the end of a powerplay at the 13:39 mark after a nice up-ice run to give the lead back to Oklahoma City. Jason Seerey and Simon Lambert were in on the assist.
With 3:34 left in the period, the Brahmas were given a tremendous opportunity when Justin Kinnunen was fouled from behind on a breakaway and was allowed a penalty shot. Kinnunen, a left-hander, skated up on Groenestege who stood up for a moment and then was beaten on the forehand side with a wrist shot and just like that, the score was tied again at four.
Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the period and the game went into overtime. The Blazers outshot the Brahmas 12-9 in the third and 36-25 in regulation.
Just when it looked like we would see another shootout, Chad Hinz had the puck knocked away from him by Kevin McLeod. Tyler Skworchinski got hold of it and sent a 60-foot breakaway pass to Scott Sheppard who fired it past Groenestege for the 5-4 win at the 3:54 mark.
Brett Jaeger had 34 saves and got his 16th win of the season.
Both teams went 2 for 7 on the powerplay. The Brahmas were assessed 14 minutes on 7 infractions and Oklahoma City was assessed 24 minutes on 8 infractions.
The third star went to Justin Kinnunen for his penalty shot score. The second star went to Scott Sheppard for his two goals including the game winner and the first star was awarded to the Blazers' Simon Lambert who had a great night despite the loss with a goal and two assists.
You can view the box score here
The Brahmas will return home before heading to Southaven, Mississippi to take on the RiverKings on Friday night.
Photo Credit: Sarah Phipps/The Oklahoman
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