KALAMAZOO, MI — Joel Martin made 29 saves and tied a 30-year-old Kalamazoo Wings franchise record for career wins (196), as the Wings topped the Brampton Beast 5-3 on Saturday at Wings Event Center.
Showcasing crisp passing in the opening minutes of the game, the Wings earned the early lead after a tic-tac-toe breakout opened the ice for the attack. Ben Wilson’s rink-wide feed found the stick of Anthony Camara, who saucered a feed in front of the goal for Justin Taylor to deposit for his team-leading thirteenth goal of the season.
As the game transitioned into the second period, Kalamazoo continued their control of the pace. However, a momentary lapse helped Brampton tie the game at one. While shorthanded, Brampton’s David Pacan forced a turnover and sped into the Wings’ zone, where he snapped a wrist shot past Kalamazoo goaltender Martin.
Five minutes later and with time winding down in the second period, Kalamazoo padded their lead using speed and a great individual effort. Tanner Sorenson grabbed the puck at the blue line of his own end, raced around a defender and into the Brampton zone and picked the top corner of Beast goalie Andrew D’Agostini.
Trailing by two, Brampton earned a power play and clawed back to within a goal after eight minutes of the third period had passed. Willie Corrin joined the rush and went to the goal with his stick on the ice, and was rewarded when he tipped in a tape-to-tape feed by Chris Auger.
With less than two minutes remaining in the third, Brampton pulled their netminder in favor of an extra attacker, and Kalamazoo chipped in the empty net goal. Tyler Shattock won a foot race in the Beast end and slid the puck into the vacated net, establishing a 4-2 lead for Kalamazoo.
Thirty seconds later, Kalamazoo added yet another tally, this time with D’Agostini back in his goal. Taylor gathered the puck at center ice, weaved his way into the Beast end, and found the top corner of the goal for his second tally of the night.
That didn’t mark the end of the scoring for the night, as Brampton earned a power play, pulled D’Agostini again, and set up a beautiful one-time play that resulted in David Vallorani whipping the puck in from the right-side circle.
With three goals in the last 1:56 of play, the game ended with a furious pace, but it was the Wings who came out on top by a 5-3 margin.
Kalamazoo will hit the ice next on Friday, January 4th when the Wings visit Brampton for a 7:15 p.m. puck drop at the Powerade Centre.
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