TOLEDO, Ohio – Led by forward Evan Rankin’s three goals, the Walleye beat Atlanta by a score of 6-2 on Wednesday morning at the Huntington Center. The Walleye have a season record of 10-3-0-0 and are 2-1-0-0 at home.
Atlanta took the early lead over Toledo at 7:36 of the first period on a goal by defenseman Blake Kessel. The Walleye had two power play chances in the first, but did not capitalize on either one.
A four-goal second period highlighted this game, led by forward Evan Rankin. Rankin (4th) started the scoring 50 seconds into the second period with a goal on a feed from Dane Walters and Jacob MacDonald. A minute later, Matt Caito (1st) netted his first of the season, assisted by A.J. Jenks and Shane Berschbach. Rankin (5th) then extended the Walleye lead 7:59 into the second on a breakaway backhanded shot that beat Atlanta goaltender Matt Ginn. Rankin (6th) continued his hot game by netting his third of the game (can you say hat trick?) at 14:24 of the second. Berschbach notched his second assist of the game on Rankin’s third score. Toledo out-shot Atlanta 13-3 in the second period.
Atlanta forward Brock Higgs sneaked one past Patty early in the third period, cutting the Walleye lead to two goals. Tylor Spink (6th) got it back when he tapped one in 14:50 into the third, with assists credited to Tyler Sikura and Tyson Spink. Mathew Santos netted his second of the year late in the third to put the game away.
Goaltender Jake Paterson got the nod for the Walleye today against Matt Ginn for Atlanta. Paterson stopped 18 of the 20 shots he faced. He moves to 4-3 on the season.
With Toledo Walleyes release
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