Walleye pick up a point in an Ohio rivalry battle

CINCINNATI, OHIO - It was a battle between the Ohio rivals in Cincinnati tonight as the Walleye took a shootout loss to the Cyclones. 

What Happened:

This marked the final matchup on Cincinnati's home ice this season. The teams will not meet again until their last regular season faceoff in Toledo on April 7. 

The Walleye grabbed a 1-0 lead in the opening period thanks to a Mitchell Heard goal early in the sixth minute. Heard's marker came after he tipped Adrien Beraldo's shot from outside the left circle. Forward Kirill Tyutyayev was the second assister on the early goal. 

The gloves dropped just over 30 seconds later as Beraldo and Cincinnati's Sean Allen went at it in the Toledo zone. In addition to his fighting major, Allen received an instigating minor to send the Walleye on their first power play. 

Only three minutes passed before another fight ensued, this time between Toledo's Cédric Lacroix and Cincinnati's Justin Vaive in front of the Cyclones bench. This time, Cincinnati went on the power play as Lacroix was assigned an additional penalty for roughing. 

The Walleye picked up their first penalty kill and went shorthanded again late in the opening period after a slashing penalty against Mitchell Heard. This would send Cincinnati into the second period on the power play. Toledo had the 9-7 lead in shots after 20 minutes. 

Cyclones forward Yushiroh Hirano capitalized on the man advantage to make it a tie game at 0:58 of period two with a one-timer past Sebastian Cossa. The first penalty of the middle frame went to Toledo's Cédric Lacroix for high-sticking at 9:54. With 36 seconds remaining on the Cyclones power play, Yushiroh Hirano picked up his second goal with a carbon copy of his first one to make it a 2-1 game. 

Just over two minutes later, Cincinnati's Matej Pekar made his way to the Cyclones box for a slashing minor. No scoring action followed on the Toledo power play, but Andrew Sturtz tied it back up late in the 17th minute with a picture-perfect shot from the top of the right circle. Drew Worrad and Gordie Green picked up the assists on the equal strength goal. 

Cincinnati took the lead back a minute later as Zack Andrusiak got the third Cyclones power play goal of the night. The penalty was a holding minor against Toledo's Donovan Sebrango at 18:21. To close out the second period, Mitchell Heard headed to the Toledo box with slashing and roughing minors while Cincinnati's Matt Berry and Matthew Cairns picked up roughing penalties of their own. The Cyclones had the 18-16 shots advantage after two periods. 

The penalties continued early in the final third as Toledo's Trenton Bliss and Cincinnati's Kohen Olischefski both received roughing penalties 35 seconds in. Yushiroh Hirano joined his teammates in the Cincinnati box for holding at the 1:19 mark. Jalen Smereck added another Cyclones penalty just under two minutes later to make it 5-on-4 for the next 21 seconds. Brandon Hawkins was the Toledo skater who tied it back up just 12 seconds after Smereck's penalty with a one-timer from the left circle. Kirill Tyutyayev and Riley McCourt picked up the assists on the equalizer. 

With one of Cincinnati's penalties expired, the Walleye still had the man advantage for another 1:39. At the 4:44 mark, Gordie Green reclaimed the Toledo lead with a back post one-timer from Tyutyayev. Trenton Bliss was the second assister on the power play goal. Only two minutes passed before Cincinnati's Lincoln Griffin matched Green's goal to restore the tie. Three more penalties came in the remainder of the final period, two to Toledo and one to Cincinnati, but the 4-4 tie remained at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime.

With 2:19 gone in the extra time, the Walleye went on the penalty kill as Sebastian Cossa tripped up a Cincinnati skater near his net. Toledo kept the Cyclones scoreless in the next two minutes, and the tie remained after the overtime period to extend the night into a shootout. 

Cincinnati's Yushiroh Hirano shot first, grabbing a quick 1-0 lead with a finish on Cossa. Brandon Hawkins responded to end the first round of the shootout in a tie. Patrick Polino kicked off round two for the Cyclones with a miss. Kirill Tyutyayev came next for the Walleye, missing his shot to keep it tied. The shootout was extended to a fourth round after Cincinnati's Zack Andrusiak and Toledo's Mitchell Heard were shutout in the third. Cyclones forward Matej Pekar kicked things up a notch as he made it 2-1 with the first shot of the fourth round. Cincinnati's Beck Warm ended up denying Gordie Green for the Cyclones shootout win. 

Speed Stats:

• Despite Toledo's seven-game road winning streak coming to an end tonight, the Walleye picked up a point to make it the ninth consecutive road game in which they've done so. 
• With a power play goal, Brandon Hawkins extended his six-game point streak. The forward now has 13 points (7G, 6A) in his last seven games and leads the Walleye in points this season with 44. 
• Rookie forward Trenton Bliss extended his point streak to four games with an assist. He now has seven points (3G, 4A) in those four contests. 
• Gordie Green picked up a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to five games. In those contests, he has totaled six points (3G, 3A). 
• Kirill Tyutyayev added three assists in his 11th multi-point game of the season. 
• Defenseman Adrien Beraldo, acquired in a trade with Reading last week, picked up his first Walleye point with an assist. 

Up Next:

The Walleye return home tomorrow to host the Wheeling Nailers for a Sunday evening matchup at 5:15.