The Oklahoma City Barons took eight days off so the Utica Comets could catch up. Tonight the quarterfinal gets underway and it should be an entertaining series for Oilers fans.

There are many ways to read this, suspect Oilers fans are disappointed and that’s understandable. Another way to to look at things is this: Nurse just finished his junior career and probably didn’t expect to be in the AHL at this point in May. The Barons have all kinds of depth, what with Martin Marincin and others down on the farm, so there’s no hurry. I imagine he’ll play later in this series.

Interesting lines, with the veteran 1line followed by a second line with a little bit of everything. The fact Josh Winquist is on a skill line for a big playoff game bodes well for him—there’s at least a chance he will get an NHL (two-way) contract this summer on merit. The Jones line with Matt Ford should be able to do some damage (they scored OKC’s first goal of the series in the second period of tonight’s game.

The four line is pure beef, nice to see Khaira back and healthy. Scratches include Kyle Platzer and Greg Chase, along with a bunch of injured guys.

There’s age and experience here, the college men (Simpson and Oesterle) are AHL rookies but are older men than Nurse and have played on the farm all year. This is a strong group at the AHL level, Marincin’s addition is a big deal for the Barons.

Off to extra time in New York state.

And so it ends! The Barons win an epic game one!