TOLEDO, Ohio – Eagles right winger Alex Belzile increased his league-leading scoring statistics in the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs by adding a goal and two assists in Colarado’s series tying win in game two on Saturday.
Belzile upped his tally to a total of 21 points, including 12 goals and nine assists in just 11 games. This timely scoring outburst enabled the Eagles to get a much needed win.
Walleye Captain, Evan Rankin started off the scoring at 3:06 of the first period with a
Alex Belzile
tough angle shot that slipped past Lukas Hafner on the glove side.
Eagles defensive stalwart Jake Marto answered back, evening the score 5:37 into the opening period with assistance from Matt Garbowsky and Julien Nantel.
Two goals in less than a minute, the first from Nantel at 7:55 and the second from Belzile on a power play at 8:50, opened up a 3-1 lead for the visiting Eagles.
The only goal in period two came from Toledo’s Kyle Bonis who scored at 9:02 to cut the Eagles lead to one goal at 3-2 heading into the final frame.
Julien Nantel
Matt Register, the Kelly Cup Playoffs leading scorer among defensemen, was credited with the eventual game-winner on a power play at 1:44 of the third. His blast from the right point was assisted by Belzile and Garbowsky.
The Walleye were not done though, as they gamely battled to hold serve in the series.
Bonis again pulled the home team to within one goal midway through the third period with an unassisted power play goal to account for the final 4-3 score in favor of the Eagles.
Toledo out chanced their opponents, putting 29 shots on goal to 22 for the Eagles.
Colorado went two for five on the power play, which was a significant improvement over the last four games when they had not converted on the man advantage.
The Walleye scored one power play goal on their five chances.
Lukas Hafner
Toledo native Lukas Hafner stopped 26 of 29 shots in net to give the Eagles the win while Jeff Lerg saved 18 of the 22 shots in a losing effort for the Walleye.
The next three games in the series will be played in Colorado, starting with Game three on Wednesday. Game four will be played on Friday, while Game five is scheduled for Saturday.
Article and pictures courtesy of Terry Sanford for Prohockeynews.com
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