KALAMAZOO – Led by a 36-save performance by Joel Martin the Kalamazoo Wings earned their third straight victory and in the process snapped the Reading Royals 14-game unbeaten (13-0-1-0) in regulation with a 4-1 victory Friday night at Wings Stadium.
An impromptu bounce nearly gave the K-Wings the lead, when Joe Sova’s dump in hit the side wall and went into an unprotected net; however a Kalamazoo player was offside and negated the tally. 
Kalamazoo didn’t have to hold off on the goal celebration for too long. On the team’s first power-play, Ludwig Blomstrand struck for his 15th goal of the season 16:32 into the period to give the K-Wings the advantage.
Finishing off a two-on-one odd man rush to extend their lead, Matt Caria found Michael Neal for his 10th goal of the season 6:07 into the second period.
The K-Wings have earned the first two goals of the contest in each of their last three games; that’s compared to Kalamazoo’s first 44 games of the season, when they registered the first two goals in just seven of them.
Cutting the deficit back to a single goal, David Marshall (17th) scored from the slot midway in the period.
Kalamazoo held on to the one goal lead throughout the third period and finally broke away with a pair of empty-net goals in the waning moments.
Justin Taylor (8th) recorded his third shorthanded of the season into an empty-net with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. Just 26 seconds after Taylor sealed the victory; Jake Chelios chimed with another empty-netter to close out the scoring.

You must be logged in to post a comment.