BRAMPTON, ON, CA— Racing out to an early three-goal lead and using timely defense down the stretch, the Kalamazoo Wings defeated the Brampton Beast, 4-3, on Wednesday at Powerade Centre.
Needing eight minutes to find their rhythm in the opening period, the Wings broke the ice courtesy of Evan McEneny. After a faceoff was drawn back to the tape of McEneny, he carried to the middle of the zone and skipped a wrist shot through traffic and between the legs of Brampton goalie Kenny Reiter for his first professional tally.
Just over four minutes later and moments after killing their first penalty of the night, Kalamazoo were able to keep the momentum in their favor. After being released from the box after serving his delay of game minor, Anton Cederholm hauled in a pass from Ludwig Blomstrand, carried into the Beast zone, and wired a shot past the stick-side of Reiter.
One minute and forty-five seconds later, the Wings bumped their lead to three goals, after Justin Taylor deflected a long shot that was fired towards the goal by Tyler Shattock. Taylor, who increased his goal streak to seven games with the tally, angled the puck into the back of the goal, spelling the end of the night for Reiter. The Brampton netminder played 13:50 of the first period, making five saves on eight shots.
Brampton took control in the middle frame and were rewarded for their pace of play while working on a power play try. David Ling zipped a cross-rink pass to the high slot, where Nick MacParland received the feed and deposited the puck past Joel Martin and into the Kalamazoo goal.
Keeping up the tempo, Brampton cut the Wings’ lead to one after a scramble on the doorstep of Martin’s goal saw Steven Kaunisto go unmarked, enabling the former K-Wing to get to the paint and poke the puck into the goal.
Re-creating the multi-goal separation in the third period, the Wings were propelled by a late tally from Ludwig Blomstrand. Blomstrand collected the puck off a Curtis Valk faceoff victory and steered an effort towards the goal that weaved through a web of bodies and into the net.
Not going away without a fight, the Beast clawed to within a goal after Luc Blain effortlessly directed the puck into the goal off a feed from Mitch Zion, making it a one-goal contest late in the tilt.
With their netminder pulled in favor of an extra attacker, the Beast pushed a multitude of chances towards Martin, but the Wings slammed the door shut on their way to a 4-3 victory.
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