TULSA, Okla. – Only 24 hours after arriving in Tulsa, Kevin Murdock appeared between the pipes for the Oilers and back-stopped his new squad to a 3-1 victory over the Rapid City Rush on Saturday night at the BOK Center. The rookie goaltender turned aside 30 shots for his first ECHL win and watched his teammates score three unanswered goals in the third period to earn back-to-back triumphs for the first time in nearly three weeks.
Jean-Michel Rizk notched the only goal of the contest for Rapid City at 8:56 of the opening period. The Rush center received a pass from Cody Ferreiro in front of Murdock and slipped the puck through the sprawling net minder for his third goal of the season.
Rapid City goaltender Raphael Girard and his shot-blocking defense corp were able to fend off the Oilers until the 13:06 mark of the third period. Tulsa center Jon Booras waltzed off the half-wall and stick-handled through traffic before snapping a shot off the post and into the net. Booras leveled the game at 1-1 with his first goal since December 10. With momentum on their side, the Oilers took their first lead of the night with a fortuitous bounce off Rush defenseman, and former Oiler, Sean Erickson. Jeff Jubinville’s shot caromed off Erickson and past the pad of Girard at 15:30 of the final frame to give Tulsa a 2-1 edge. Jubinville became the sixth Oiler player to reach double-digits in goals with his 10th strike of the season. With less than a minute remaining in regulation, Girard headed to the Rush bench in favor of the extra attacker and Jubinville was able to seal the victory for the Oilers with just the second empty net goal of the season.
Oilers defenseman Nathan Lutz, who assisted on Jubinville’s game-winning goal, played in his 800th career game on Saturday night and 100th game as an Oiler. Now in his 14th season of professional hockey, the Saskatchewan native has enjoyed a career that spans 17 teams in seven leagues and five countries.
Murdock, a 24-year old native of Bradenton, Florida, signed with the Oilers after starting the season with the Fayetteville FireAntz of the SPHL. In 15 games in Fayetteville, Murdock posted a 2.03 goals against average and a league-best .945 save percentage.
Drew Fisher chipped in a helper on the empty goal and pushed his point streak to a season-best seven games. Tulsa was called for only one penalty in the contest and set a season-low with just two penalty minutes. Rapid City failed to convert on its only power play of the evening and the Oilers finished 0-for-2 with the man-advantage. The season series the two clubs is tied at 2-2 with the fifth meeting set for Sunday at the BOK Center at 4:05 p.m.
With Tulsa Oilers team release
Contact the photographer: les.stockton@prohockeynews.com
