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Riley Gill made 33 saves to pave the way for the Kalamazoo Wings to earn their first shutout of the 2011-12 season, as the K-Wings started a four-game road swing with a 4-0 victory over the Toledo Walleye Saturday night at the Huntington Center.
After a scoreless opening period, the K-Wings took control of the contest in the second period striking for three goals.
On their first power-play of the night, Trent Daavettila notched his ninth goal of the season, when a Sam Ftorek slap shot caromed off the end wall onto the forwards stick 7:56 into the period. The goal from Daavettila extended his point streak to four games.
Less than two minutes later, Kalamazoo pushed their lead to 2-0, when Darryl Bootland led a pass to Elgin Reid (4th) for a breakaway marker. The assist lengthened Bootland’s point streak to five games.
Bootland’s (17th) dominance of the Walleye continued midway in the stanza, as the forward stole the puck in the Toledo zone and scored shorthanded. With nine goals against Toledo, Bootland has earned over half of his overall season goal (17) total against Toledo. Overall, the forward has registered 11 out his 31 total points versus the Walleye.
Adding salt in the Walleye’s wounds, Justin Taylor found a loose puck to the side of Toledo’s net and chipped in his team-leading 20th goal of the season with 52 seconds remaining in the contest.
The shutout by Gill was his fourth of his professional career and his third in a K-Wings jersey. Gill was also between the pipes the K-Wings earned their last shutout back on April 1, 2011 against the Cincinnati Cyclones.
Kalamazoo will continue their four-game road swing this Thursday, February 9th 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
