Walleye claim Bliss-ful victory over the Heartlanders

TOLEDO – The Toledo Walleye defeated the Iowa Heartlanders 4-1 on Saturday night at the Huntington Center.

What Happened:

The Toledo Walleye welcome the Iowa Heartlanders back into the Huntington Center for Labatt Hockey Night in Toledo to begin a set of back-to-back games.

John Lethemon defended the home net for the Walleye. Matt Anderson and Brendon Michaelian manned the defence while Sam Craggs, Conlan Keenan and Brandon Kruse led the Toledo attack.

Peyton Jones started between the pipes for the visiting Heartlanders. Anthony Firriolo and Kyle Masters staffed the defence while Casey Dornbach, Max Johnson and Louis Boudon filled out the attack for Iowa.

The first period action began with a Walleye power play at 1:08 when Kevin McKernan was penalized for Tripping. The Heartlanders killed off the penalty successfully.

Toledo got their next power play chance at 6:54 when Louka Henault was caught Tripping. Iowa killed off the ensuing man-advantage.

The Walleye got their third power play chance at 10:42 when Ben Brinkman was charged with a Delay of Game penalty. The Heartlanders killed off their third penalty of the period.

Iowa got their first power play chance at 19:19 as Craggs was penalized for Delay of Game. The power play would finish the first period and carry over through the first 1:19 of the second period.

The first frame closed with the Walleye and the Heartlanders in a scoreless tie.

The Walleye outshot the Heartlanders 11-7 in the period. Toledo was 0/3 on the power play in the period while Iowa did not have a chance completed in the period.

The second period action began with the remainder of the Iowa power play being killed off.

The Heartlanders got their next man-advantage at 5:26 when Brandon Hawkins was called for Tripping. The Walleye killed off the power play.

The Fish got on the board first at 11:07 when Trenton Bliss buried a one-timer. Mitch Lewandowski and Orrin Centazzo added assists to the icebreaker.

Iowa got their next man-advantage at 15:48 when Centazzo was penalized for Roughing. Toledo killed off yet another power play.

That wrapped the second set of 20 minutes with the Walleye leading the Heartlanders 1-0.

The Walleye outshot the Heartlanders 8-7 in the period and 19-14 overall. Toledo did not have a power play chance in the period while Iowa was 0/3 on man-advantages completed in the period.

The third period started with two Walleye goals in quick succession.

First, it was Kruse deflecting the puck off of a defencemen and into the net at 4:20 with Craggs and Riley McCourt adding apples.

Then it was Bliss for his second goal of the evening at 5:17. Michaelian and Hawkins added assists to the score, making it 3-0 Walleye.

The Heartlanders got their next power play chance at 6:42 when Riley Sawchuk was penalized for Boarding.

The Iowa power play was short-lived as Pavel Novak was sent to the Iowa penalty box for Cross-Checking at 6:49, dropping the play to four-on-four.

Before the end of the four-on-four, Centazzo was caught Slashing at 8:34, dropping play to four-on-three for Iowa for eight seconds and then back to four-on-four for seven seconds before 1:45 of a standard power play.

All penalties were killed off.

Iowa escaped the shutout at 11:59 when Yuki Miura lit the lamp. Boudon and Masters added helpers to the score.

The Walleye sealed the win with an empty-netter by McCourt at 18:34 from Hawkins to make it 4-1 Walleye.

The horns sounded with the Walleye claiming a 4-1 victory over the Iowa Heartlanders.

The Walleye were outshot in the third period 10-13 but outshot the Heartlanders 29-27 overall. Toledo did not have a power play chance in the period and was 0/3 overall, while Iowa was 0/2 in the period and 0/5 overall.

Three Stars Sponsored by Local 245:

1. Trenton Bliss (2G) – TOL
2. John Lethemon (W, 26/27 SV) – TOL
3. Brendon Michaelian (1A) – TOL

What’s Next:

The Toledo Walleye will remain at home to close out the weekend against the Iowa Heartlanders tomorrow, March 3, 2024, at the Huntington Center with puck drop.