TOLEDO, OH – Tyson Spink scored with an assist to lead the Walleye to a 4-3 win In front of a standing room only crowd of 8,078 Saturday night at the Huntington Center. Toledo has an overall record of 45-14-2-1 and is 22-5-1-1 at home.
In the first ever matchup between the two teams it took until the final moments of the first for a goal. Tulsa’s Shawn Bates blocked a shot at the blue line and raced away on a breakaway beating Toledo goaltender Cal Heeter for a 1-0 Oilers lead. The Walleye used its power play to strike three straight times early in the second period. Shane Berschbach slammed in a goal on a five on three power play for his 17th score of the season to tie the game at 1:17. On the second power play Evan Rankin fed a goalmouth pass to Tyson Spink who netted his 33rd goal for the first Walleye lead of the night at 1:43 of the second period.
At 4:14, Dane Walters wristed a shot past Tulsa net minder PJ Musico for the third straight Walleye power play goal and his 12th goal of the season. After the Oilers snuck back to within a goal, J.P. LaFontaine buried a Simon Denis pass at 16:20 of the second period for his 11th goal of the year. Both Evan Rankin and Justin Agosta each finished the contest with a pair of assists.
Walleye Notes: Goaltender Cal Heeter stopped 28 of Tulsa’s 31 shots and has a season record of 12-1-0… Saturday’s standing room only crowd was the 18th sellout of the season tying last season’s record…. Shane Berschbach’s two point night gives him 199 points (56 goals, 143 assists) in a Walleye uniform… Toledo is unbeaten in nine straight home games (8-0-1).
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