Walleye score thrice in the second period in loss

TOLEDO – The Toledo Walleye fell to the Kalamazoo Wings 4-3 on Friday night at the Huntington Center.

What Happened:

The Toledo Walleye stopped home to welcome the Kalamazoo Wings into the Huntington Center on Friday night.

Jan Bednar started between the pipes for Walleye. Riley McCourt and Jake Willets manned the defense while Brandon Hawkins, Trenton Bliss and Darian Pilon led the Toledo attack.

Hunter Vorva defended the net for the Wings. Kurt Gosselin and Connor Walters led the defense while Ayden MacDonald, Drake Pilon and Justin Taylor manned the Kalamazoo attack.

The Pilon brothers would get the special honor of starting against each other, a rarity in professional sports.

Kalamazoo would get the first man-advantage of the evening at 7:52 when Sam Craggs was sent to the Toledo penalty box for Tripping. Toledo would successfully kill off the power play.

The Walleye would get their first power play chance at 10:05 when David Keefer was sent to the Wings box for Hooking. The Wings would kill off the power play.

The Wings would get their second power play opportunity when Darian Pilon was sent to the Toledo box for Hooking at 13:10.

Kalamazoo would convert the power play in the middle of a crowd at 13:55 to take a 1-0 lead. Erik Bradford tallied the score with Ty Glover and Brad Morrison getting assists.

It appeared that Kirill Tyutyayev had evened the score but it was waved off by the officials.

Kalamazoo came right back and added to their lead at 18:09 when Keefer deflected the puck into the net. Joshua Passolt got the solo assist to make it 2-0 Wings.

The Wings came down and put another goal up at 19:08 when ChazReddekopp sent a rebound into the net. Drake Pilon and Taylor assisted the goal, making it 3-0 Kalamazoo.

That would wrap the action in the first 20 minutes with the Wings leading 3-0. Toledo was outshot by Kalamazoo 10-12 in the first frame. The Walleye were 0/1 on the power play in the period, while the Wings were 1/2.

The first notable action in the second frame would be the Walleye getting their second man-advantage of the evening at 7:23 after Kalamazoo was penalized for Too Many Men.

The Walleye would convert the power play at 9:11 when Mitch Lewandowski sniped one past Vorva unassisted to get the Fish on the board, with the Wings on top 3-1.

The Walleye would bring it within one when Alexandre Doucet snuck the puck past Vorva, making it 3-2 Wings. Chase Gresock and Thomas Farrell collected the assists for the Fish.

The Walleye struck paydirt again at 12:50, this time with Jake Willets finding the back of the net to tie the game. Lewandowski and Hawkins were the helping-hands to even the game.

The Wings would get their third power play chance at 15:57 when McCourt was sent away for Cross-Checking.

Just as the power play expired, the Wings would reclaim the lead at 17:58. Brandon Saigeon would put Kalamazoo back in front, while Glover and Robert Calisti tallied the assists.

The Walleye would get their next power play chance at 18:14 when Gosselin was sent to the Kalamazoo box for Delay of Game. The power play would carry over for the first :14 of the third period.

That would close the second 20 minutes of action with the Wings leading the Walleye 4-3. Toledo outshot Kalamazoo 19-5 in the second period and 29-17 cumulatively. The Walleye were 1/1 with a man-advantage in the period, while the Wings were 0/1.

The Walleye power play would be fruitless as the carried over advantage would be killed off.

The Walleye would get their next power play chance at 3:12 when Passolt was sent to the Kalamazoo box for Slashing. The Walleye could not convert the power play.

The Fish would get yet another man-advantage at 14:43 when Glover would be assessed a Charging minor. The Wings would successfully kill off the power play.

Reddekopp would be assessed a Roughing minor as the final buzzer sounded.

That would wrap the action with the Wings claiming the 4-3 win over the Walleye. Toledo outshot Kalamazoo 10-4 in the period and 39-21 overall. The Walleye were 0/3 on power plays completed in the third period and 1/5 overall, while the Wings did not have a power play in the third period and were 1/3 overall.

Three Stars Sponsored by Local 245:

1. Brandon Saigeon (1G, GWG) – KAL
2. Mitch Lewandowski (1G, 1A) – TOL
3. Ty Glover (2A) - KAL

What’s Next:

The Toledo Walleye will head to Fort Wayne to close out the November slate against the Fort Wayne Komets tomorrow, November 25, 2023, with puck drop coming at 7:30 pm ET at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.