TOLEDO, OH – Trailing 2-0 midway through the second period, the Evansville IceMen battled back to score three unanswered goals on their way to a 3-2 win Wednesday against the Toledo Walleye at the Huntington Center. The win snapped a three game skid for the IceMen and ended Toledo’s ten game unbeaten streak.
Toledo capitalized on two of its first three power-play opportunities to jump out to a two-goal lead. Alden Hirschfeld scored on a rebound with 4:11 left in the first period to put the Walleye in front during a man-advantage. Hirschfeld picked up another power-play goal just over five minutes into the second period to give the Walleye a 2-0 lead. It was his league-leading seventh power-play tally of the season.
Meanwhile, Evansville failed to convert on its four power-plays in the first two periods and were kept off the board when Daultan Leveille was stopped on a penalty shot by Walleye goaltender Jake Paterson. However, the IceMen cut the lead in half when Justin MacDonald was caught from behind on a breakaway by Jared Nightengale, who accidentally swept the puck through the five-hole of his own goaltender to give Evansville life.
MacDonald buried his second goal of the game on a rebound for the equalizer 4:25 into the third period, and Leveille completed the comeback after he scooped up a rebound and shot it over a sprawling Paterson during Evansville’s fifth power-play to put the IceMen ahead 3-2. Evansville goalie Matt Zenzola made 29 saves in the victory in his ECHL debut, while Paterson stopped 32 in the loss.
Evansville returns home to host the Cincinnati Cyclones Friday at 7:15pm at the Ford Center.
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