BLOOMINGTON, IL – The Kalamazoo Wings (9-11-2-1), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, erupted for a season-high six goals and defeated the Bloomington Bison (15-7-2-0) Friday at Grossinger Motors Arena, 6-2.
Zach Okabe (6) started the night’s scoring, sniping a shot inside the right post, from the top of the right circle, at the 13:04 mark of the first period. On the play, Ryan Cox (5) won a left-circle faceoff recovered by Antonio Venuto (8). Venuto then back-handed a pass to Okabe, who found an open look.
Derek Daschke (2) added another goal with a top-shelf snipe at the 19:54 mark of the first period. On the setup, Okabe (14) rocketed a pass to a shooting Venuto (9) at the top of the crease. Collecting the rebound, Daschke did the rest.
The Bison found the net first in the second period to briefly narrow the deficit to one at the 9:52 mark.
Quinn Preston (10) immediately brought the lead back to two with a breakaway game-winning goal just 17 seconds later at the 10:09 mark. On the goal, Collin Saccoman (4) passed to Davis Pennington (10), who launched a bomb, leading Preston all the way into the offensive zone slot, allowing him to dangle his way past a one-on-one with the goaltender for the goal.
Spencer Kennedy (1) continued the offensive onslaught with his first goal as a K-Wing at the 2:44 mark of the third frame. The setup came courtesy of defenseman Jayden Lee (7), who stole the puck near center ice and fired a pass to Kennedy, who walked in for a backhand goal, bringing the score to 4-1.
Adding insult to injury, Pennington (2) darted a top-shelf goal just 43 seconds later at the 3:27 mark. The buildup saw Griffin Ness (10) hand the puck off to Colin Bilek (4), who sent a backhanded cross-zone pass to Pennington, loading up in the right circle. The defenseman then flicked a wrister to bring the lead up to four.
Unfortunately, Bloomington capitalized on the first penalty of the game with a power-play goal at the 8:23 mark.
Kalamazoo spoiled any chance to maintain momentum, as Pennington (3) sent the puck from ten feet inside his own right-point for an empty net goal with 4:49 remaining in regulation.
Ty Young (3-0-0-0) was phenomenal between the pipes, turning aside 23 of 25 shots, and the K-Wings outshot the Bison 36-to-24, including a season-high 18-5 shot advantage in the second frame.
Kalamazoo and Bloomington uncharacteristically combined for only three trips to the penalty box, resulting in 30 penalty minutes between the two teams.
The K-Wings drop the puck on the back half of the weekend series against the Bloomington Bison (13-5-2-2) at 8 p.m. EST on Saturday at Grossinger Motors Arena.
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