The effort was there, the win wasn't

I just got on the bus after our 5-3 loss tonight to Oklahoma City.

We were just tired in the third period tonight. The killer was a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal in the third period, the first of two shorties by the Blazers.

Oklahoma City kind of banked the first one off the boards. Our defense got double-shifted, they were gassed. Under normal circumstances our D would have got them, no problem.

It was just a lack of bodies, not the effort. The effort was there.

Karlis Zirnis scored twice tonight. He is a great player and has a great attitude. He's a winner and has won before. Hopefully we can talk him into staying.

It felt good to score early, but for me, the outcome is the main goal. We fell a little short, but our goaltender John DeCaro played really good. We're not making excuses, but once we get our full lineup, we'll be OK.

We head to Austin tomorrow. We have to keep it simple -- defense first. We took a few chances tonight and it cost us. If we battle like tonight, we'll be OK.