KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Wings (16-16-3-0), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets, out gritted, out battled and outscored the Fort Wayne Komets (15-13-4-2) with a pair of goals in the final five minutes of Friday night’s contest at Wings Event Center, winning by a score of 3-1.
The ice seemed tilted to the East for this game, as every goal scored crossed the line on that end of the rink at Wings Event Center. First, the K-Wings took a 1-0 lead behind an 11-6 shot advantage in the opening frame, then the Komets won the shot total 22-12 in the second to tie the game at one, but Kalamazoo surged with a 15-6 shot advantage in the third and scored two late goals for the win.
Erik Bradford (1) netted the game-winning goal at the 15:27 mark of the third period for the K-Wings on the power play in just his first game back from Cleveland (AHL). Justin Murray (11) held the puck in the offensive zone at the blue line and fed it to Bradford on the left boards, where he skated into the left circle and rifled in a shot as Justin Taylor set the screen.
Taylor (6) then proceeded to score a shorthanded insurance goal at the 18:59 mark, as Fort Wayne skated six-on-four with the net empty after drawing a late call. Murray (12) assisted once again as Taylor backhanded it from 8 feet inside the K-Wings blue line, close to the K-Wings bench, into the open net.
With the goal, Taylor (473) now sits one point away from Kevin Schamehorn (474) atop the K-Wings’ all-time points leaderboard.
Kalamazoo opened the scoring at the 15:12 mark of the first as Carson Focht (4) tipped in a blue line blast from Ryan Cook (6). Logan Lambdin (4) set up Cook’s laser, and Focht made it 10 points in his last 11 games with the goal.
Fort Wayne scored at the 6:49 mark of a sloppy second period that featured 49 total penalty minutes, tying the game at one, but Hunter Vorva (8-3-1-0) slammed the door shut the rest of the way out. Vorva finished with 33 saves on 34 shots, earned the game’s No. 1 star and now has points in nine of his last 11 starts (8-2-1-0).
The K-Wings turn around to host the Wheeling Nailers (17-16-3-0) Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Wings Event Center. It’s also ‘Jurassic Night’ with Kalamazoo wearing specialty Jurassic-themed jerseys that will be auctioned off for charity after the game. Get your tickets HERE, and make sure to get to the arena early because the first 1,000 fans will receive a free K-Wings Jurassic T-shirt!
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