SECOND PERIOD EXPLOSION

The Kalamazoo Wings continued their road swing, the same way they started it, with a decisive victory, this time a 7-2 thumping of the Greenville Road Warriors Thursday night at the BI-LO Center.

Surviving three power-play chances by Greenville, including a two-man advantage late in the period, Kalamazoo kept the Road Warriors off the scoreboard for a scoreless opening period.

Outshot 15-8 in the first period, Kalamazoo surrendered only four power-play shots in the period, including two during the five-on-three penalty-kill.

Combining for seven goals, scoring wouldn’t be a problem for the K-Wings or Road Warriors in the second period. Kalamazoo opened up the flood gates 2:56 into the stanza with a tally from Joe Charlebois (1st). Setup with a face-off victory in the Road Warriors zone by Kory Karlander, Charlebois goal was his first in 80 games a member of the K-Wings.

Trent Daavettila (10th) extended the K-Wings lead 2-0 less than two minutes later scoring on the power-play. Assisting on the goal were Justin Taylor and Darryl Bootland.

All three players extended extensive point streaks on the tally. Daavettila pushed his streak to four games; Taylor extended his to four, while Bootland has a current team-high of six straight games with a point.

Greenville cut the deficit back to a single goal 7:43 into the period, with a power-play tally from Bratton Cameron (7th).

Setup by a penalty for playing with a broken stick at the 9:15 mark, Taylor had an opportunity to push the K-Wings advantage back to three goals with a penalty shot. Forcing a wrist shot high during the ensuring chance, the K-Wings lead remained at 2-1.

Kept off the board on the penalty shot, the K-Wings didn’t have to wait long to lengthen their advantage.

Back-to-back power-play goals in a span of 46 seconds put the game out of reach. A wrister from Bootland (18th) at the 10 minute mark served as the eventual game-winner, as well as lengthened his goal streak to three games.

Kalamazoo’s power-play went 3-for-3 in the period moments later when Nick Sirota tacked on his eighth-goal of the season. Sirota would finish the night with three points (1 goal, 2 assists).

Finishing on an odd-man rush, Jeff Prough (17th) slap shot from the right circle capped off the Road Warriors scoring.

Bootland (19th) closed out the scoring in the period notching his second-goal of the night, giving the forward five goals in his last three contests.

The five-goal outburst in the second period was a season-high for Kalamazoo.

Kory Karlander (10th) and Dustin Cloutier (5th) each added goals in the third period to give the K-Wings a five-goal victory. The goal by Karlander was his first since January 21st and was a part of a game-high four point (1 goal, 3 assists) night for the K-Wings.

Kalamazoo finished the night 3-for-4 on the power-play and with the victory pushed their road winning streak to a season-high four games.

The seven-goal performance for the K-Wings tied a season-high.

Kalamazoo will continue their four-game road swing with the third-leg of the trip this Saturday, February 11th with a 7:35 p.m. encounter against the Greenville Road Warriors.

The K-Wings will return home on Tuesday, February 14th with a 7 p.m. face-off versus the Cincinnati Cyclones during the 12th Annual Pink Ice Game, presented by WKFR and WWMT.

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