K-WINGS STUNG BY STINGRAYS

Fighting back from two-goal deficit in the second period, the South Carolina Stingrays came back to defeat the Kalamazoo Wings 4-3 in a shootout Wednesday night at Wings Stadium.

Off to a quick start, David de Kastrozza (12th) gave the Stingrays an early lead, just 1:54 into the first period. de Kastrozza followed up his own rebound off a long wrister from the top of the circle and found the back of the net, beating K-Wings starting goalie, Riley Gill.

Led by an aggressive power-play the K-Wings pulled even 5:03 into the second period on a tally from Justin Taylor (17th).

While not a man-advantage tally, just one second following a Johann Kroll infraction, Elgin Reid gave Kalamazoo a 2-1 lead by registering his third goal of the season.

Taylor earned a K-Wings’ single game season-high second power-play tally 12:34 into the stanza by jamming in a Darryl Bootland rebound. The two-goal performance by Taylor was his third multi-goal game of the season and the 21st by a member of the K-Wings.

South Carolina ended Kalamazoo’s scoring run later in the period when Greg Stewart (7th) tipped in a Mike Hamilton cross-rink pass.

Trailing 3-2 in the third period, South Carolina pulled back even with a power-play marker from Johann Kroll (5th), which forced overtime.

After no scoring in the five-minute overtime, the game went into a shootout, where the Stingrays outscored the K-Wings 3-2 to capture the one goal victory.

The K-Wings will conclude a three-game home stand this Friday, February 3rd, versus division rivals, the Toledo Walleye at 7:30 p.m. in the first half of a home-and-home series during PNC Night and a Frugal Fan Friday, featuring $1 Beers, $1 Hot Dogs and $1 Pepsi products.

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