KALAMAZOO, MI — Goaltenders Joel Martin of the Kalamazoo Wings and Zach Fucale of the Brampton Beast stole the show on Friday night, stopping a combined 73 of 75 shots, as the Wings bested the Beast, 2-1, in a shootout at Wings Event Center.
Taking advantage of a flat-footed Kalamazoo team in the first three minutes, Brampton took the game’s first lead just 2:23 after the opening faceoff. Generating pressure in the Wings zone, David Pacan slid a shot from an acute angle that was stopped by Martin, but the rebound landed on the tape of Connor Crisp, who cashed in with the opening tally.
Less than two minutes later, Kalamazoo’s attack came to life and the game was knotted at one. Josh Pitt steered the puck deep into Beast territory and Justin Taylor chased from the wall and corralled it behind the net. While below the goal line, Taylor banked the shot off the back of Zach Fucale and into the goal for his team-leading 20th of the season.
Later on in the period, Dajon Mingo earned a penalty shot after being tripped while on a breakaway. Fucale came up with the stop, sending the game into the first intermission in a 1-1 gridlock.
The second period maintained the intensity of the first, but neither team could best their opposition’s netminder as team defense was the highlight. Martin made ten saves during the middle frame, and Fucale made 16 of his own.
The third period followed suit to the second, and the teams were again held scoreless over the course of twenty minutes, sending the game into a sudden-death overtime session.
During the extra period, the back and forth play continued, and the best chance came with seconds remaining. Taylor lost an edge and Pacan scooped up the puck, carried in on a breakaway, and was stopped by Martin as time was expiring. The scoreless overtime session yielded a shootout.
The first round of the shootout provided no scorers, giving way to Tanner Sorenson in the second round for Kalamazoo. Sorenson walked in towards Fucale and buried a beautiful backhand-to-forehand deke, giving the Wings the lead. Martin stopped the next two Brampton shooters and earned his 14th victory of the season.
Kalamazoo returns to the ice on Sunday, January 29th at 3 p.m. when Wheeling visits the Wings Event Center.
Notes: Kalamazoo are 8-1-1 in their last ten games… Lane Scheidl’s point streak ended at six games… Kalamazoo’s two penalty minutes were the fewest in a game this season… Martin has moved to within one win of Jason Saal for fourth all-time on the ECHL career wins leaderboard… Taylor has scored in three straight games.
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