At the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma City Barons were determined to continue dominating their series against the Texas Stars, and managed to do just that. They pulled out a 7-3 victory in Game Four thanks to a stellar third period.
The Barons were without Anton Lander, who sustained a lower body injury in Monday’s game, but having shut out the Stars in their previous game, the Barons came into Game Four on a high note.
The first period started out fairly slow. Although there was a great shot by Toni Rajala near the beginning, an absolute rocket by Taylor Fedun that was saved by Stars goalie Cristopher Nilstorp, and a nail-biting moment when Yann Danis got out of net but the Stars fortunately weren’t there to put it home, the game remained scoreless in the first period. In the first three games of this series, the team that managed to get the first goal has always won the game, so it was a race to see who could get on the board first and establish that confidence boost for their team.
The Barons led the series 2-1 entering Game Four, so the Stars were likely determined to tie things up by winning this game. However, it was the Barons that scored the first goal only 1:27 into the second period, as Brandon Davidson made a nice pass to C.J. Stretch, who redirected the shot into net and got Oklahoma City their lead.
Texas countered about five minutes later with a goal by Ritchie, putting the Stars back into the running. Though the Barons struggled to regain their lead and put a lot of good pressure on Nilstorp, for the first time in the series there was a lead change as Texas brought the tally up to 2-1 in their favor with a goal by Sceviour.
(Steve Christy/OKC Barons)
They weren’t going to get the win so easily, however. Mark Arcobello tied the game with a breakaway and straight-on shot past Nilstorp. With less than 2 minutes left in the second period, the Barons countered once more with a goal by Morrow, again bringing Texas into the lead. This game had a lot of interesting back and forth see-sawing and lead switching as the Barons struggled to add another victory to their series wins while the Stars looked to get back into the race.
In the third period, the Barons came in with furious energy, and the Oklahoma City commentator may as well have taken a page out of Oprah’s book. Antti Tyrvainen gets a goal (one handed, poked in as he was falling down)! Taylor Fedun gets a goal! One more for Arcobello! Another for Tyrvainen, why not? One for Garrett Stafford! You get a goal, and you get a goal, and you get a goal! Everyone gets a goal! Everyone with a Barons jersey, that is. The Stars couldn’t manage a rally in the onslaught of Oklahoma City shots, and the game ended with a 7-3 victory for the Barons.
The two teams will meet on Thursday May 16 for Game Five, again at the Cox Convention Center.
Adrianna Szenthe
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