K-Wings drop two of three into Christmas break

KALAMAZOO , Mich. – The Kalamazoo Wings (11-12-1-2) eagerly welcome the holiday break after extending their slump by losing two of three games at Wings Stadium this weekend. The K-Wings have lost nine of their last thirteen games, after starting the season with three straight victories in defense of their North Division title. “When we weren’t winning there for a while, it seemed like we were in last place, especially for the guys who were here last year,” Assistant Captain Sam Ftorek said. “We had such a hot start, that losing was the weirdest thing.” The K-Wings enter the break far from the success they flashed last season, their first year as an ECHL franchise.   Despite owning a top-three power play record, the team sits with the fourth worst penalty killing unit and has given up a league-high 102 goals. With 25 points on the season, the K-Wings are only five points away from the division-leading Wheeling Nailers (15-12-0-0). On Wednesday night, the K-Wings missed a chance to advance in the division when the Nailers hit the ice in Kalamazoo, winning a 6-3 decision. The Nailers were without top forwards Jason DeSantis and Ben Street, who were called up to their AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. Already short two other players, the Nailers put together an impressive showing. Tied 2-2 entering the third period, the Nailers scored four goals and created some distance in a tight division race. Defenseman Peter Merth started the scoring scramble with the first goal of his professional career. Two minutes later forward Casey Pierro-Zabotel hammered home a loose puck during a hectic pile-up in front of K-Wings goalie Riley Gill.   “We made changes throughout the whole night,” Nailers coach Stan Drulia said. “I was really happy with just the fire the guys got in their belly as the game wore on.” Kalamazoo tried to make it interesting after Patrik Asselin cashed in his second goal of the night after a tripping call against Nailers forward Andrew Orpik. The Nailers quickly quieted Kalamazoo’s climbing momentum after Mike Gershon wristed a goal high above Gill’s shoulder.       With ten minutes left to play, the K-Wings took control, pressuring the Nailers into their own zone for extended shifts, but couldn’t come up with a miracle. “We can’t wait until our backs are against the wall to play like that,” assistant captain Kory Karlander said. “You’re not going to pull off that kind of heroics every night.” The victory turned hollow for the Nailers after K-Wings forward Jordan Fulton tumbled over the top of goalie Mattais Modig with less than a minute to play. As Modig’s helmet popped off and rolled toward the end boards, he started thrashing along the goal line, painfully grabbing at his head. Athletic Trainer Jerry Duncan raced to his side as fights broke out behind the net. “He’s definitely got a pretty serious injury,” Drulia said. “It’s too early to tell.” A shaken and dazed Modig was helped off ice and the Nailers finished off the victory with an empty net goal with 13.1 seconds to go. Karlander expressed frustration with some of the whistles in the game, but even more frustration with his own team. “We were in a poor position before calls at the end of the game happened. We need to focus on how we got to be two goals down before that ever happened,” Karlander said. If the K-Wings were looking to avoid penalties, they did themselves no favors on Friday night during a 3-2 victory against the Reading Royals (18-9-0-0).      The K-Wings and Royals combined for 17 minor penalties, including nine in the first period. The Royals opened the scoring on their second power play of the game with a low slap shot from forward Andrew Sarauer. Kalamazoo responded with two power play goals of their own from Asselin and Ryan McGinnis, taking a one-goal lead into the second period. The K-Wings tightened down defensively for the rest of the game, only allowing an early third-period goal from Nailers’ leading scorer Matt Cauana before scoring the game winner off a deflected pass from Karlander. K-Wings coach Nick Bootland called it his team’s best game of the season from start to finish and credits the players with taking responsibility for their own game. “After the big lapse and the big step backward on Wednesday they had their own meeting as a group of guys and they felt their preparation is lacking,” Bootland said. Kalamazoo goalie Ryan Nie offered some insight into the meeting. “We’ve just kind of been coming out slow,” Nie said. “We have to make sure all the guys are ready and prepared, and obviously it showed tonight with the great start we had.” Despite the solid victory, Bootland still expressed some concern over the unusual lack of discipline from both teams. “Your bench gets short in a hurry when there are a lot of special-teams like that,” Bootland said. “Two things can happen: your guys that are playing a lot can get tired and the guys that aren’t getting on the ice, can have those stale legs as well.” Last week the K-Wings battled back to a thrilling 6-5 overtime victory against the Toledo Walleye, but many players on the team were more encouraged by the lower scoring affair.“This one [is a better feeling] because we played 60-minutes,” Ftorek said. “We didn’t take any shifts off.” With spirit and confidence at an all-time high, the K-Wings again hosted the Royals the next night in front of a crowd of 2,237 people at Wings Stadium. The game started off slow as the teams traded minor penalties back-and-forth throughout the first period. Kalamazoo carried a long five-on-three power play into the second frame, scoring the first goal of the game off a high wrist shot from Karlander. K-Wings forward Trent Daavetilla extended his point steak to 12 games, after tallying an assist on Karlander’s power play goal. The streak set a new season-high for the K-Wings and tied the league-season high, held by Greenville Road Warriors forward Brendan Connolly. Reading tied the score six-minutes later when Nie helplessly watched an errant rebound trickle across the goal line at his feet. Despite gaining considerable momentum by killing off a five-minute elbowing major against forward Darryl Lloyd, the K-Wings entered the third period down by a goal after Royals forward Ryan Cruthers scored with 4.4 seconds left on the clock. The Royals moved ahead by two goals when Cruthers turned a two-on-one breakaway into his second goal of the game. Down by two, the K-Wings made their final surge of the night, coming through with a short-handed goal from defenseman Steven Tarasuk. Tarasuk started the play by deking through the neutral zone and single-handily carrying the puck into the offensive end. He then finished off the play by jamming home the rebound off a point shot from Ftorek. The assist extended Ftorek’s own point streak to six games. The assist also tied Karlander’s season-high assist streak. “To be honest with you, I didn’t know I was on a point steak,” Ftorek said. “The points I care about are the points the team gets and if we don’t get any it’s not a victory for me, it’s not a victory for anyone.” Kalamazoo returns to work the day after Christmas, with back-to-back road games against the Toledo Walleye. Kalamazoo returns home for two games against the Elmira Jackals to usher in the new year. “Hopefully [the break] gives guys a chance to recover a little bit,” Ftorek said. “Even if you don’t workout every day, you get a stretch, you walk around, you see your family, but understand that when we come back from break it’s time to go again.” Contact the writer at Ryan.Loren@ProHockeyNews.com Contact the photographer at Rob.Huelsman@prohockeynews.com