Five different goal scorers guided Cincinnati to a 5-3 win over the visiting Tulsa Oilers Wednesday night.
The Cyclones have now won five straight games and have points in 10 consecutive contests for the first time since November 28-December 22, 2018. Cincinnati holds a 33-12-5-3 record, keeping them in a tie with Toledo for first place in the Central Division.
- Lee Lapid (9) opened the scoring just 1:40 into the contest courtesy of a pass fed to the crease from Kohen Olischefski. Lapid's backhand elevated the puck past Dance Mannella to get the Cyclones on the board. Lapid now has nine points over his last eight games.
- Tulsa knotted the game up at one a piece when Alex Gilmour crashed Mark Sinclair's net to score through the five-hole 11:38 into the first period.
- After killing four penalties in the first 27 minutes of the game, Cincinnati earned its first man advantage, then were awarded 50 seconds of five-on-three time with Blake McLaughlin and Jarod Hilderman in the box. It didn't take long for Patrick Polino (14) to find an open target after Louie Caporusso dished the puck across the crease for Polino to make it a 2-1 game. Matej Pekar (12) followed suit less than four minutes later when intercepting a puck a top the Tulsa defensive end. Pekar skated in on the left-wing side before beating Manella low on his glove side to double the lead for Cincinnati.
- Tag Bertuzzi put the Oilers back within one 26 seconds into the third on a power play, but Josh Passolt (17) got the 'Clones back up by a pair midway through the third. The rookie winger whipped a puck from the corner of the boards hitting Mannella and leaking underneath him and into the goal. Passolt now has points in four straight games and is tied for third on goals on the Cyclones.
- Tulsa once again scored to make it 4-3, as Dante Sheriff shot a puck coming down the slot that went under Sinclair, but Matt Berry (13) helped his team by putting Cincinnati up by two for a final time, scoring 13:47 into the third period after creating space for himself in the slot before wiring it in the back of the net, making it 5-3.
- Sinclair finished the night with 20 saves and is 11-6-3 on the season.
- Cincinnati's week-long homestand continues Friday night against Iowa. Friday features a PuckChop pillow giveaway to the first 3,000 fans, presented by The Dragonfly Foundation. Puck drop is slated for 7:30pm with doors opening one hour beforehand!
