KALAMAZOO, MI — The Kalamazoo Wings padded a five-goal lead in the first two periods, but had to withstand a four-goal attack from the Toledo Walleye to secure a 5-4 victory on Sunday at Wings Event Center.
For the second straight night, Kalamazoo raced out of the starting blocks and established the game’s first lead. Justin Taylor forced a turnover in the Toledo zone and served the puck up to Tanner Sorenson for a short-side wrist shot that zipped past Toledo goalie Jake Paterson.
Seven minutes later, Kalamazoo doubled their lead with some gritty net crashing and follow-up efforts. Eric Kattelus sailed a long shot from the blue line that was stopped by Paterson, but Taylor fought through the bodies in front and reached out to tap the loose puck in the net to give the Wings a 2-0 lead.
Capping off the period in style, Kalamazoo created a beautiful tic-tac-toe play to improve their lead to three goals. Blake Kessel fired a rink-wide pass to Kyle Blaney, who slid it back across the ice for Lane Scheidl, who displayed the patience to walk the puck to the far-side post before lifting it into the roof of the net for his 14th goal of the season.
Seven minutes into the second period, Kalamazoo continued their dominance and cracked open a four-goal edge. A nifty pass from Sorenson found the tape of Josh Pitt, whose effort was denied by Paterson. Taylor cruised up the middle and crashed the goal to fire home his second goal of the night on the rebound.
With less than three minutes remaining in the period, Kalamazoo established a five-goal lead with the first goal by Justin Breton as a member of the Wings. A long drive from Sean O’Rourke skipped off the chest of Paterson and sat un-marked along the doorstep. While falling to the ice, Breton shoveled the puck into the back of the net to send the Wings into the dressing room with a 5-0 lead.
The comfort of the five-goal advantage didn’t last very long, as the Walleye came out of the gates in the third period with a renewed sense of energy and execution. 36 seconds into the period, Zach Nastasiuk logged his seventh goal of the season after the Wings failed to clear the puck out of their own end.
While on a power play eight minutes later, the Walleye used their team speed to punish Kalamazoo. Nolan Zajac lifted a shot wide of the goal, but the puck bounced off the end wall and in front, where Zajac raced past the defense to gather and finish.
Later on in the frame and with Kalamazoo on their second power play of the game, Toledo pressured on the forecheck and forced Kalamazoo into a turnover in their own end. J.P. LaFontaine followed a rebound to the low slot and punched in his sixth goal of the year, narrowing the Wings lead to 5-3.
With less than three minutes remaining in the game, Toledo went to a five-on-three power play and used the extra space to make Kalamazoo pay. Tylor Spink camped out at the top of the circle, received a pass from Tyson Spink, and hammered a one-timer over the stick of Joel Martin and into the goal.
Kalamazoo settled down in the final two minutes to kill off the rest of the power play time, crank up their defensive pressure, and prevent Toledo from equalizing on their way to a 5-4 win at home.
Kalamazoo will hit the ice next on Friday, January 27th when the Brampton Beast visit the Wings Event Center. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Notes: Scheidl is on a six-game point streak… Kalamazoo went 3-0 in their three games in three days stretch this weekend… Taylor’s three-point performance was his fifth of the season, which leads all Wings skaters…Martin made 42 saves in the victory… Kalamazoo are 2-3-0-1 against Toledo this season… 10 of 16 skaters had points for Kalamazoo… The Wings have picked up at least one point in eight of their last nine games.
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