KALAMAZOO, MI — Joel Martin made 21 saves and moved into fourth all-time on the ECHL’s career wins list with 173, as the Kalamazoo Wings bested the Cincinnati Cyclones 6-2 on Sunday at Wings Event Center.
Carrying over the momentum from last night’s win, Kalamazoo pressured in the opening frame and were rewarded in the first seven minutes. Holding the puck in the attacking end, Eric Kattelus found Charlie Vasaturo at the right-side and Vasaturo snapped a wrist shot that carved through the traffic in front of the goal and into the corner of the net to give the Wings a 1-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later and on their first power play of the game, an innocent centering feed turned into the game’s equalizer. Brandon McNally set up along the goal line and whipped a pass to the front of the goal that ricocheted off a skate of a Kalamazoo defender and slid past Martin.
Later on in the period and on their first man-advantage try, Kalamazoo regained the lead after generating traffic in front of the goal and screening Michael Houser. Kyle Bushee’s long shot was re-directed by Peter Schneider and landed on the tape of Tyler Biggs, who had a tap-in along the doorstep.
Building upon their lead in the early going of the second period, Tanner Sorenson launched a long shot that sailed wide of the goal, but the missed shot caromed off the end wall and back to the tape of Sorenson, who followed the play and chipped in his 14th of the season.
With under three minutes remaining in the period, Sorenson struck for the second time of the game after he and Josh Pitt worked to steal the puck from the Cyclones’ defense. Pitt tapped the puck ahead to Sorenson who found the top corner over the glove of Houser on a breakaway.
Just over a minute later, the Wings struck again after holding the puck in the Cincinnati zone for extended time. After some nifty passing in the attacking end, Ben Wilson dished a gorgeous tape-to-tape feed to Cam Darcy at the back door for his first goal as a Kalamazoo Wing.
With under a minute to go in the second, the Cyclones got pucks to the goal and their persistence eventually paid off. A drive from Jaynen Rissling was tipped in front by Dylan Nowakowski and bounced past Martin. The tally sent the teams into the second intermission with Kalamazoo gripping a 5-2 lead.
Putting the contest away early in the third, the Wings used more creativity in the attacking zone, and Biggs touched a backhand feed to a wide-open Dajon Mingo for his third goal in as many games.
With the Wings leading 6-2, the time ticked down on the clock and Kalamazoo secured the victory, their third in as many nights.
Kalamazoo will return to the ice on Wednesday, March 1st when they visit the Quad City Mallards at the iWireless Center for a 7:35 p.m. puck drop.
Notes: Martin moved into a tie for fourth all-time on the ECHL career wins list… Biggs has scored in three straight games… Darcy has points in all three games since his reassignment to Kalamazoo… The Wings earned all six possible points this weekend… Sorenson became the second player this season to score two goals in a period… Justin Taylor added another point and is four shy of tying Sam Ftorek’s ECHL franchise record for career points.
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