Oklahoma City, OK – The Oklahoma Warriors defeated the Amarillo Wranglers by the score of 5-2 at Blazers Ice Centre on Saturday. This was the fourth game of five straight between the Wranglers and the Warriors. Amarillo had won the previous three meetings against Oklahoma coming into the game.
Connor McDonough got the start in goal for the Wranglers. McDonough has started in all four meetings this season between the Wranglers and the Warriors. Oklahoma started Dylan Johnson in goal.
Sebastian Speck opened the scoring exactly nine minutes into the first period to make it 1-0 Warriors. Rosa and Homer tallied the assists. Speck’s goal was the only goal in the first period. Shots were 12-4 in favor of the Warriors after the first frame.
Amarillo got to work on the power play early on in the second period and cashed in 2:07 into the second period when Jack McDonald picked up a rebound and sent it through the wickets of Johnson to tie the game up 1-1. Papaspyropoulos and Gagnon picked up assists on McDonald’s second goal of the season. The Wranglers continued to bring the heat but were unable to score with the momentum, and Oklahoma took the lead with 10:17 to go in the second period off of a goal from Cooper Boulanger. The Boulanger goal would be the first of three straight from Oklahoma with Drew Sutton notching two more goals for the Warriors. The first came 4 on 4 with 6:56 to go in the period, and the second on the power play with 2:17 remaining. Luca Ganz replaced McDonough after the fourth Warriors goal. The Warriors took a 4-1 lead into the second intermission. Despite outshooting the Warriors 10-4 in the second frame, the Wranglers found themselves down by three heading into the third period.
The next goal went the Wranglers’ way 9:37 into the third when Jack McDonald peeled the puck away from a battle along the boards and worked it to Ben Ivey who found Drew Jeffers streaking in for a shot that beat Johnson to make it 4-2. Jeffers’ goal was his first in a Wranglers uniform and his third of the year. Oklahoma would come storming back to retake their three-goal lead just 55 seconds later when Riley Brueck scored from Sutton and Nelson to make it a 5-2 hockey game.
With the loss, Amarillo fell to 8-5-1 on the season and saw its four-game winning streak come to an end. The Wranglers will be back in action for the final game of the five-game set vs the Warriors tomorrow with puck drop at 7:15 pm CDT. You can watch the game on NATV or listen in on the Wranglers YouTube audio feed.