Tonight’s contest began the second half of this season’s matchups against Kalamazoo.
Despite two power plays in the opening period, the Walleye trailed the Wings by one after 20 minutes. Kalamazoo’s goal came early, just 2:20 in, as Matheson Iacopelli finished over the right shoulder of Toledo’s Sebastian Cossa from the top of the left circle. Walleye forward Kirill Tyutyayev drew the first Kalamazoo penalty in the tenth minute as he was tripped by Anthony Collins in the Wings’ zone. The second came at 14:48 after Carson Focht grabbed onto Toledo’s Drew Worrad from behind to earn a holding penalty. The teams were tied up at nine shots apiece heading into the second.
With less than a minute gone in the middle period, Drew Worrad headed to the Toledo penalty box for a high-sticking double minor that sent a Kalamazoo skater to the ice. Just 24 seconds into the K-Wings power play, Max Humitz poked the puck into the backside of the Toledo net to make it a 2-0 game. Toledo got things going on their third power play after a slashing penalty against Kalamazoo’s Darby Llewellyn. At 0:19 of the Walleye man advantage, Gordie Green deflected Kirill Tyutyayev’s blue line shot past Kalamazoo’s Hunter Vorva to get Toledo on the board. Brandon Hawkins registered the second assist on the power play goal.
Just under two minutes after Green’s marker, Conlan Keenan deflected another Tyutyayev shot past Vorva to make it a tie game. Mitchell Heard was the playmaker with the pass to Tyutyayev from the right circle. With six more minutes gone, Keenan picked up his second of the night for the Walleye lead. The game winner came after Mitchell Heard traveled the length of the ice for a backhanded pass to Keenan, who got the one-timer. The Walleye finished three of their nine shots throughout the middle period while Cossa saved all of Kalamazoo’s 11.
Kalamazoo entered the final period hungry for their lead back. At the 3:38 mark, Gordie Green sent the Wings on their third and final power play of the game with a slashing penalty. The Toledo road penalty kill unit, currently sitting first in the league, shut out the Wings shorthanded. Starting at 13:23, Sebastian Cossa faced eight straight Kalamazoo shots in three minutes, saving all of them. The Walleye were able to cling onto their one-goal lead to the end as Cossa saved all 17 Kalamazoo shots in the final period.
The Walleye are back home for the first time in almost two weeks tomorrow night against Kalamazoo. Puck drop is set for 7:15 p.m.
With Toledo Walleye release
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