Oilers-Knight Monsters Headline Wednesday Night Action In The ECHL

The Wednesday ECHL schedule looks almost like a Friday or Saturday slate, with a total of eight games taking place. Five of them occurred in the morning to honor students, teachers and educators.

Here’s a glimpse at the three night games.

Reading Royals (5-6-1) at Maine Mariners (3-5-0)

Puck Drop: 7 Pm ET

The Royals kick off a four-game, five-day road swing in Portland, Maine with a midweek rematch against the Mariners at Cross Insurance Arena.

Reading (5-6-1) wrapped up a three-game homestand with a 1-1-1 mark. They opened with a 6-5 overtime loss to the Norfolk Admirals Nov. 6 before splitting a two-game series against the Indy Fuel, winning 4-2 on Nov. 9 and suffering a 3-0 shutout the following day.

Maine leads the season series against the Royals 2-0-0, blanking them 3-0 on Nov. 2 and handing them a 5-3 defeat Nov. 3.

The Mariners dropped their lone contest last weekend 5-1 to the Worcester Railers and come into Wednesday with a 3-5-0 mark for six points on the season.

Players To Watch

Royals forward Matt Miller scored five points (1-4-5) during the homestand, and ranks second on the club in points behind Connor McMenamin, who has 10.

Tyler Gratton leads Reading in goals with five, including three in his last four games.

Forward Patrick Guay is the Mariners’ leading goal-scorer with three.

Forwards Evan Vierling and Jacob Hudson are tied for the team lead in points with seven.

Rapid City Rush (1-6-3) at Idaho Steelheads (6-4-0)

Puck Drop: 7:10 Pm MT

The Rush and Steelheads are about to become quite familiar with each other, as they square off in the first of a five-game series at Idaho Central Arena.

The last time these two teams met in Boise was last April, when the Steelheads took Rapid City out of playoff contention with a 4-2 win.

It took until last weekend for the Rush to pick up their first win of the season, a 5-2 triumph over the Kansas City Mavericks. They scored five unanswered goals after falling behind 2-0, and have tallied nine of their 20 total goals in the third period.

Despite the tough start, Rapid City has been in most of its games, with five of the 10 being decided by one goal. Three games required overtime.

The Steelheads collected four out of a possible six points of a three-in-three weekend. Six of their next eight games will be on home ice, starting with Rapid City on Wednesday.

Idaho is currently tied with Wichita for third in the Mountain Division. The club boasts a potent offense, ranking first in the ECHL with 40 goals. Their goals-for average of 4.00 is tied for second.

Players To Watch

In six games with the Rush, Chaz Smedsrud has seven points (3-4-7). Five of those seven points have come on the power-play unit.

Rapid City’s Connor Mylymok is very familiar with Boise, having begun his professional career there with the Steelheads. His father, Jeremy, is one of the all-time great Steelheads and his #4 was retired at Idaho Central Arena.

Idaho’s Ty Pelton-Byce is tied for third in the league with six goals.

Thomas Caron has two goals in his last three games and a point in three of his last five.

Tulsa Oilers (6-2-1) at Tahoe Knight Monsters (4-2-1)

Puck Drop: 7 Pm PT

The Oilers come into Wednesday’s matchup riding a three-game winning streak. Their last game was a come-from-behind 5-3 victory in Wichita against the Thunder on Sunday. Tulsa scored four unanswered goals including a shorthanded tally in the third to send the Wichita crowd home unhappy.

This will be the first-ever meeting between the Oilers and Knight Monsters. Tahoe picked up its first road win in franchise history last weekend against the Utah Grizzlies in a dominating 6-2 victory on Sunday.

Tulsa has scored a power-play goal in seven of its nine games.

The Knight Monsters have been especially strong in the second period, outshooting opponents 92-65 in that frame.

Players To Watch

The Oilers’ Sasha Pastujov has 12 points (8-4-12) over his last seven games. He’s tied for the ECHL lead in goals with eight coming into Wednesday’s action.

Jett Jones is on a three-game goal streak for the Knight Monsters, with three goals during that span.