KALAMAZOO – Holding the Indy Fuel at bay for the majority of the night, the Kalamazoo Wings pulled away late to defeat Indy 5-3 during the 34th Annual “World Famous” St. Patrick’s Day Green Ice Game, presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts.
Hemming the Fuel in their own zone, the K-Wings first shot of the game found the back of the net. In his first professional game, Justin Kovacs showed poise and flipped a pass to the blade of Justin Taylor (10th), who buried a wrister from the slot.
Extending their lead to 2-0 early in the second stanza, with the puck dangling on the goal line, Michael Neal (17th) pushed it to the back of the net past Fuel goaltender Mac Carruth .
Not staying down for long, Indy brought the lead to 2-1 just 1:18 later when Nick Jones (4th) cut into the slot from the right circle and tipped one past Joel Martin.
Using the man-advantage, the Fuel tied the game when Chris DeSousa (5th) crashed the K-Wings net and batted in a rebound from a Garett Bembridge blue line shot.
Kalamazoo regained the lead late in the period after Gergo Nagy (14th) knocked the puck past Carruth. Brett Ponich fired a shot off of the high glass behind the net, and the rebound landed on the stick of Nagy.
Using a power-play opportunity midway in the third, Indy tied the contest once again. Garett Bembridge took a wrap-around chance and flipped the puck in on the backhand for his 25th of the season.
Just over one minute later, the K-Wings would retake the lead for good. Patrick Kennedy (10th) took the loose puck from the right circle and lifted it over the glove of Carruth.
Giving the K-Wings breathing room late in the final stanza, Ludwig Blomstrand picked up his team-leading 26th of the season. Carruth played the puck behind his own net and fired a pass to the tape of Blomstrand, who fired it into the open net.
With K-Wings game report
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