Walleye stave off elimination in game five

TOLEDO, Ohio – Tyler Spezia scored a goal and assist, while Pat Nagle stopped 28-shots, as the Toledo Walleye topped the Newfoundland Growlers 3-2 before 8,558 fans at the Huntington Center on Saturday night.

One night after falling to the brink of elimination, Toledo bounced back to win in front of its home crowd for the final time this season. The best-of-seven ECHL Kelly Cup Finals series now shifts back to St. John’s, NL with the Newfoundland Growlers leading the series 3-2.

Spezia opened the scoring for the home team, scoring 2:27 into the game on a goal from Ben Storm and Hunter Smith. Spezia took a pass from Storm in the slot before kicking the puck to his backhand and beating Growlers netminder Michael Garteig to make it 1-0.

Newfoundland found the equalizer 11-minutes later on a Marcus Power goal from Sam Jardine and Zach O’Brien. Power collected a pass from Jardine in front of the net and slid home a backhander past the sprawled-out Nagle to make it 1-1 at the 13:12 mark. That score would hold for the remainder of the period, as Newfoundland held a slight shot advantage through the first.

Toledo would strike twice in the middle frame, scoring a pair of goals just 1:36 apart.

Ryan Obuchowski scored his second of the post-season 8:58 into the period on a shorthanded goal from Greg Wolfe and Spezia. Moving in on the left circle, Obuchowski maneuvered around Garteig, who came out of the net to play the puck, and managed to find the net past a falling Growler defender to make it a 2-1 Walleye lead.

A.J. Jenks added to the Toledo lead, scoring through traffic from the right circle at 10:34 on assists from Matt Register and Bryan Moore.

The Growlers roared back, however, and pulled back within one goal two-minutes later on O’Brien’s league-leading 16th post-season tally. O’Brien fired a shot through a screen, beating Nagle top-shelf, stick-side at 12:50 to pull within one.

Neither team would score in the third period, though, as Nagle held strong, stopping all seven Growlers shots he would face.

The two teams now return to the Mile One Centre for game six on Tuesday. Game seven, if necessary, will take place on Wednesday.

Contact the Writer: John.Hall@prohockeynews.com