Winners in six of their last seven games, the Walleye (21-6-2-0) claimed their league-best 12th road victory of the campaign and fourth at the expense of Kalamazoo (15-15-0-1). Daniel Leavens, Shane Berschbach and Greg Wolfe also scored as Toledo posted five or more goals for the 10th time this season, including three of the last four contests.
The Walleye broke the scoreless tie on their opening shot 3:02 into the first frame. Making his return to the lineup following a four-game stint with Grand Rapids, Tyler Spezia set up Schmidt in the high slot for a wrist shot inside the left post.
Kalamazoo answered back on its first shot 52 seconds later. Kyle Bushee sent a pass from the left half-boards to Tyler Biggs, who centered the puck from behind Toledo’s net to Wade Murphy in front for a shot into the top left corner to knot the score at 1-1.
The visitors capitalized on an eventual 3-on-1 to restore their one-goal edge later in the frame. After Jordan Topping’s initial effort from the slot was fought off by Hildebrand, Samuel Thibault had his point-blank opportunity blocked by a Kalamazoo defenseman before Leavens buried the rebound from along the left goal line at the 13:37 mark.
Once again, the hosts needed 52 seconds to respond, as Bushee set up Chris Collins at the left circle for a hard wrist shot past the blocker of Pat Nagle to make it a 2-2 contest.
Toledo looked to jump back in front after Kalamazoo was whistled for back-to-back penalties four seconds apart. On the ensuing 5-on-3, T.J. Hensick sent a pass from the lower part of the right circle through the goal mouth to Berschbach for a wrister over a sprawling Jake Hildebrand at 15:01 for his team-high 14th goal of the season.
The Walleye padded their cushion with 9:05 gone in the second stanza. Leavens spun away from pressure at the left circle and fed the puck to Schmidt at the top of the right circle for a wrist shot inside the left post to open up a 4-2 lead.
Kalamazoo managed to trim the deficit later in the middle period when Tyler Ganly’s snapshot from the left point at 12:06 cut the margin to 4-3 heading into the second intermission.
Wolfe netted what proved to be the game-winner on another odd-man rush with 8:03 remaining in regulation. Hildebrand thought he held on to Wolfe’s first attempt from the right circle, but the puck squirted between the Kalamazoo netminder’s arm and body, allowing Wolfe to tap in his own rebound and extend the lead to 5-3.
Reid Gardiner added a power play goal with 4:59 to go in the third. The hosts had the chance to potentially restore parity on another power play with 3:19 left, but the Wings were unable to capitalize on a late 6-on-4 advantage and a slew of icing calls as the Walleye held on for a 5-4 win.
Toledo finished 1-for-6 on the power play, while Kalamazoo converted on one of five opportunities. Nagle turned away 24-of-28 shots to improve to 12-4-1, as Hildebrand surrendered five goals for the third time in four starts and stopped 26-of-31 in defeat.
With Toledo Walleye release
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