WHEELING, WV- Falling behind early, the Kalamazoo Wings used a pair of special team goals to rally past the Wheeling Nailers 3-2 in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals to even the series at two games apiece.
Just like they did in game three, the Nailers jumped ahead of the K-Wings using a breakaway tally from Mickael Bedard (4th ) 8:57 into the first period. After outscoring their opponents 22-6 in the first period of their first 10 games of the Kelly Cup playoffs, the K-Wings have given up three goals while scoring none in their last two postseason contests.
A hectic start to the second period saw the teams combined for three goals in the first 2:30 of the stanza. Earning his 100th career playoff point in memorable fashion, Kory Karlander (5th) recorded his 100th career playoff point on his team-leading second shorthander of the postseason 17 seconds into the period.
Wheeling regained the lead over a minute later with Bedard (5th) second of the night, this time on a rebound.
Needing 37 seconds to pull even again, Brian McGuirk (2nd) deflected a Jon Landry slap shot to knot the contest at 2-2.
Former Nailer, Aaron Clarke (4th) gave the K-Wings for good scoring on the power-play with 51 seconds remaining in the period. Clarke’s goal was his second power-play goal of the playoffs, which ties him with five other K-Wings for the team-lead.
Each team had seven shots in the third period, but neither team was able to score. Kalamazoo finished the game 1-for-6 on the power-play and scored shorthanded, while Wheeling went 0-for-8 with a man-advantage.
Comment@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.