KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Darren Archibald netted his first two goals of the season, while Joel Martin stopped 47 of the 50 shots he faced, as the Kalamazoo Wings held on to beat the Indy Fuel by a score of 4-3 for their first win of the season on Tuesday night at Wings Event Center.
While killing a Dane Fox penalty, the Wings took advantage of the Fuel’s flat-footed defensemen for the first strike of the game. Archibald gathered the loose puck from the right wing boards, found room through the offensive zone and cut in front of Indy goalie Shane Owen for the 1-0 lead.
Continuing to pressure through the opening minutes of the middle frame, the Wings would push their lead to two-goals. Operating on a three-on-one, Anton Cederholm saucered a pass to the tape of Archibald, whose one-timer squeaked through the five-hole of Owen.
Bringing the game back to within one, the Fuel took advantage of a favorable bounce of the puck off the skate of Wings’ defensemen Adam Phillips. Daniel Ciampini’s pass bounced off the skate of Phillips and onto the tape of Matt White, who wristed the puck past Martin.
Despite extended pressure from Indy, the Wings pushed their lead back to two goals with a power play tally by Alex Mallet, with just fifty-five seconds remaining in the stanza. After David Gilbert’s initial shot was stopped by Owen, Mallet charged the net and pushed in the loose puck.
With just two-seconds remaining in the second, Lane Scheidl would give the Wings a 4-1 lead. Taking the puck off the faceoff, Scheidl circled the net and flipped a backhander in front of the goal, which careened off the skate of Owen, and into the Indy net.
Not willing to roll over, the Fuel reduced their deficit to just two-goals, midway through the final period, with a power play marker from Dylan Clarke. Clarke took a backdoor feed from Alex Lavoie, and fired the puck over the outstretched glove of Martin.
Pulling to within one with under two-minutes left to play, Peter Schneider slid a soft wrister from the right circle through the pads of Martin. The Fuel would look for the equalizer with their net empty, but every opportunity was met with the paraphernalia of Martin.
Notes: Evan McEneny notched his first professional point with an assist in Tuesday night’s game. Darren Archibald is the first Wings player to score multiple goals in a single game this season. Martin made a season-high 47 saves. Kalamazoo broke an 0-4-0-0 streak to start the season, their worst season-starting streak since 1993.
With Kalamazoo Wings team release
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