WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
Allowing four goals on their first 10 shots faced, the Kalamazoo Wings weren’t able to recover and lost 4-3 Sunday afternoon at Wings Stadium to the Chicago Express.
Immediately after killing off a penalty, the Express capitalized on an odd-man rush. Stepping onto the ice after his penalty, Devin DiDiomete found the puck and sent a pass to Tyler Donati (14th), who extended his point streak to four games 5:06 into the first period by scoring on the Chicago’s first shot of the afternoon.
Pulling even one and half minutes later, Harry Young (3rd) registered his third goal of the season on a slap shot from the right point. Young has earned four (2 goals, 2 assists) of his 10 points this season in his last four games.
The Express roared right back with a goal of their own, their second of the night, on just their third shot of the game. Scott Wietecha ripped a one-timer from the blue line on a 5-on-3 to give Chicago the one goal lead.
With less than two seconds to play in the opening period, and leading by a goal, the Express gave themselves a bit of insurance heading into the locker room. Mike Embach scored his ninth of the season to give Chicago a 3-1 lead.
Keeping their momentum from the first period, Darcy Campbell (5th) extended his point streak to four games 1:52 into the second period, with a slap shot from between the circles.
Kalamazoo bounced back midway through the period with a tally from Nick Sirota (10th). Sirota, who became the 10th member of the team to reach double-digits in goals, pushed a loose puck that trickled through the legs of Peter Mannino over the goal line.
A few moments later, Sirota nearly brought the K-Wings back to a single goal, when he was taken down on a breakaway creating a penalty shot. Sirota’s penalty shot, which was saved by Mannino, was the K-Wings league-leading seventh of the season. Kalamazoo is 1-for-7 this season in penalty shot attempts.
Keeping the comeback alive, Trent Daavettila ended a 0-for-23 drought on the power-play for the K-Wings, knocking in his 13th goal of the season 5:16 into the period.
The loss snapped a four-game (3-0-0-1) unbeaten streak for Kalamazoo, while the win ended a five-game winless (0-4-1-0) streak for Chicago.
The K-Wings will continue their four-game home stand with the third-leg this Wednesday, February 22nd at 10:30 a.m. versus the Toledo Walleye during Education Day, presented by Bronson Orthopedic Sports Medicine, Edison Electric, McDonald’s, Meijer and Rx Optical.
Tickets for all K-Wings home games are $12.90 and $16.90 for adults and only $6.90 for kids ages 12 and under. The price for all K-Wings premium night games (all colored ice games and New Year’s Eve game) are just $1 more. Fans can save money by purchasing K-Wings single game tickets in advance because tickets purchased on the day of a game increase by $1.
Submitted by Mike Modugno
