Walleye close out impressive regular season road campaign in Kalamazoo

KALAMAZOO, MI - After ending their regular season road campaign with a 6-2 loss in Kalamazoo tonight, the Walleye have tied the ECHL record for most road wins in a single season with 26.

What Happened:

For their final road game of the season, Toledo traveled to Kalamazoo. The Walleye headed into the night with the last seven games against the Wings under their belt.

The Walleye dominated in the shooting department to open the first period tonight. The first penalty came just under eight minutes in as Kalamazoo's Collin Saccoman picked up a slashing minor. With 57 seconds gone in the Toledo man advantage, Brandon Hawkins put the Walleye on the board with a wrister from the top of the right circle. Forwards TJ Hensick and Gordie Green were the assisters on the power play goal. Kalamazoo's Coale Norris evened the score with an unassisted goal four minutes later. 

At 1:14 of the second, Sam Craggs headed to the Toledo box with a hooking penalty. With 4 seconds remaining in the Walleye man advantage, Thomas Ebbing put Toledo back in the lead with a shorthanded goal assisted by John Albert. Kalamazoo was quick to tie it back up with a goal from Anthony Collins at the 3:17 mark. Under two minutes later, the Wings took their first lead of the game thanks to Kurt Gosselin.

Kalamazoo got their second power play of the night at 8:53 as Derek Daschke picked up a holding penalty. Charlie Curti eventually joined Daschke in the Toledo box to make it 5-on-3 in favor of the Wings for 21 seconds. As the first Walleye penalty expired, Kalamazoo took a two-goal lead with credits to Justin Taylor. At 16:01, Ayden MacDonald put Toledo on a power play with a cross-checking penalty. Unable to dwindle the Kalamazoo lead, Toledo ended up trailing by three at the end of the second after Brendan Bushy scored for the Wings with less than a second remaining.

Less than two minutes into the final period, Mitchell Heard was assigned an interference minor to put Kalamazoo on the power play. The Wings capitalized on this man advantage, taking a 6-2 lead with a goal from Ayden MacDonald. In the remaining 17 minutes of play, there were a total of 11 penalties, four to Toledo and seven to Kalamazoo. The Wings kept their lead to the end, preventing Toledo from securing their 13th consecutive road win. 

Speed Stats:

• Toledo concluded the regular season with a road record of 26-7-2-1, just one win shy of a new ECHL record for most road wins in a season. 
• TJ Hensick (2G, 3A) and Gordie Green (1G, 4A) extended their point streaks to five games tonight with one assist apiece. 

Up Next:

Toledo's home-and-home series with Kalamazoo will conclude tomorrow at 7:15 p.m. at the Huntington Center.