The Oilers gave their fans an early-morning treat on their annual Kids Day game.
The Tulsa Oilers stretched their record to 3-0-0 on the young season with an 8-2 home victory over the Allen Americans in a rare Thursday morning game at the BOK Center.
Alec Butcher and Sasha Pastujov each scored a pair of goals for Tulsa, who came into the game having scored the most goals (11) while giving up only two.
That trend continued against the Americans, who were playing their season opener on the road.
It was Tulsa’s annual School Day, where the first 2,000 kids received a free clear drawstring bag. But it was the Oilers who were handing out the lessons to the Americans.
Butcher got the scoring started 5:11 into the first period after getting a cross-zone pass from Jack Clement past Dylan Wells for a 1-0 lead.
The score remained unchanged until the 3:05 mark of the second period, when the Oilers switched into high gear. Conner Roulette potted his first professional goal for a 2-0 Oilers lead.
Pastujov scored his first of the day just before the midway point of the game to make the score 3-0.
Butcher then made it 4-0 after putting home a rebound off a Kylor Wall shot.
Tyler Poulsen scored his fourth of the season on a power play for a 5-0 lead. Former Oiler Kyle Crnkovic finally got Allen on the board on a power-play wrister beyond the blocker of Vyacheslav Buteyets one minute into the third period.
The Americans scored again to cut the deficit to 5-2 on a freaky bounce from Artyom Kulakov.
However, Pastujov regained his team’s four-goal lead with a shot that got above Wells 8:48 into the third frame.
Ruslan Gazizov, this week’s ECHL Player of the Week, scored on a beautiful between-the-legs move for a 7-2 Oilers lead.
The final goal came when Austin Albrecht buried a pass from Justin Michaelian with 7:03 left to play, giving Tulsa its first shorthanded goal of the season.
The Oilers head to Wichita for its first road game of the season Friday against the Thunder. Allen will play its home opener this weekend against the Kansas City Mavericks.