Blazers’ slide continues
Blazers report: After dominating CHL early, OKC battling midseason slump

If Oklahoma City Blazers fans were told at the start of the season the team would be in first place after 30 games, you’d think there would be little complaint.

But expectations were different after the first month. Blazers public address announcer Ben Buckland said before the Nov. 26 game vs. Amarillo that this year’s team was better than Oklahoma City’s championship teams in 1995-96 and 2000-01.

No one batted an eye at that statement as the Blazers bolted to a franchise-record 14-1-2 start.

Every season has its ups and downs. But when does a minor slump become an unsettling trend? Oklahoma City is 5-8-2 after Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Arizona at the Ford Center.

"In the beginning of the season, we were finding a way to win,” Blazers coach Doug Sauter said. "Now we’re finding a way to lose.”

The Blazers had an 11-0-0 record when leading after the first two periods but are only 4-2-2 since. The team has blown three two-goal leads in the third period in the last three weeks. Two resulted in overtime defeats, while the other was a regulation loss.

While Oklahoma City has rarely been outplayed, it has had major lapses in focus at pivotal points. Ten minutes of sloppy play has negated the other 50 minutes of a solid performance.

"One thing is these are correctable mistakes,” defenseman Tyler Fleck said. "You rather go through this now than later in the season.”

The usual suspects (Chad Hinz, Bill Vandermeer, D.J. Jelitto and Brian Passmore) have been scoring on a consistent basis.

But the team has been scoring one less goal per game (2.5 from 3.5) while allowing one more goal per contest (2.8. from 1.7).

Oklahoma City does its best work in the first period but only has nine goals in the third period in the last 14 games.

Rookie right-winger Simon Lambert had nine goals in his first 16 games. In his last 14 games, he only has one goal and six points.

Center Jason Murfitt burst onto the scene, and the league had no answer for his speed. But after a blazing start, he has one point in his last 12 games. Murfitt also has been battling a right knee injury.

The recent slide has also seen point production decline from Robin Gomez, Cam Doull and Oriel McHugh.

When goaltender Andy Franck went down with a groin injury, Doug Groenestege had no problems taking over as the starter.

However, Franck has yet to regain his early-season form. Despite being voted as the starting goaltender for the CHL All-Star Game, Franck was 1-5-1 after Sunday’s loss.

"I know I’m not playing as well as I need to. Everyone goes through it. It’s frustrating because you know the effort is there, but the results aren’t,” Franck said.

The Blazers have played short-handed many times as nagging injuries have sidelined members for stretches during the season.

Players and coaches have dismissed that any part of the slump is a result of the front-office changes made in November.

The talk of a championship has been put on the backburner as Oklahoma City is now fighting to keep its division lead.

Oklahoma City’s Northeast division lead over Mississippi is only two points. The RiverKings won a home-and-home series over the Blazers during the weekend.

"We’re going away from the game plan,” Sauter said. "We have to get back to running our system.”

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