K-Wings clip Bison on the road

Posted on by

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Wings (6-9-2-0), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, scrapped their way past an early two-goal deficit against the Bloomington Bison (9-5-2-2), riding four straight goals and three multi-point performances to victory Friday at Grossinger Motors Arena, 4-3.

K-WINGS CLIP BISON ON ROAD FRIDAY

Kalamazoo and Bloomington continued their history of scrappy contests with a season high 60 combined penalty minutes, which included three fighting majors and an ejection for each team.

Quinn Preston (4) started the scoring for the K-Wings by redirecting a floater inside the left post to bring the score within one, after the Bison’s two first-period goals at the 47-second and 4:04 marks. On the setup, rookie Davis Pennington (6) sent a pass down the blue line to Collin Saccoman (3), who lined an airborn pass to Preston on the right edge of the slot at the 19:05 mark.

Preston then recorded his first multigoal game of the season, catching the netminder out of position and firing a shot inside the left post for a game-tying power-play goal at the 18:48 mark of the second. On the play, rookie Hunter Strand (3) slid the puck to Nolan Walker (7), who fired a shot that banged off the goaltender’s pads right to Preston in the left circle.

Breaking the tie at the 5:21 mark of the third, Strand (8) was outmanned but not outgunned, sniping his second short-handed goal of the season at the 5:21 mark. On the setup, defenseman Jayden Lee (3) started a 2-on-1 rush with a snap pass from his own blue line, freeing up Strand and Nolan Walker (8). Walker then collected his own rebound behind the net and found Strand for the slot tally.

Zach Okabe (5) scored the game-winning goal at the 12:56 mark of the third, as he collected offensive zone faceoff scraps that leaked him all alone in the slot. Okabe was credited with an unassisted top-shelf stripe, making it 4-2.

Bloomington scored at the 16:59 mark, but Kalamazoo shut the door the rest of the way out.

Jonathan Lemeuix (2-4-1-0) settled in net, making 21 stops in the contest. The K-Wings went 1-for-2 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.