TOLEDO, OH – The Kalamazoo Wings (15-16-2-1) are inching their way back to the .500 mark as they won two of the three games they played this weekend.
After losing to the Toledo Walleye (19-13-0-4) by a score of 2-0 on Friday night at Wings Stadium, the two teams faced off again on Sunday evening at Huntington Center.
The shutout loss was the first of the season for the K-Wings.
On Sunday, both teams exchanged first period goals with the Walleye’s Max Nicastro and the K-Wings Alexandre Mallet finding the back of the net. From then on the game belonged to the defense and goaltenders as neither team scored again until the K-Wings Eric Kattelus scored the lone goal in the overtime shootout.
The K-Wings went 0-for-3 on the power play while the Walleye came up empty on six chances. Goaltender Joel Martin stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced for the K-Wings while Jordan Pearce stopped 23 of 24.
Firing on all cylinders on Saturday night, the K-Wings defeated the visiting Evansville IceMen by a score of 7-3. The K-Wings received goals from Kattelus (2), Aaron Clarke, Mitch Versteeg, Mallet, Tyler Shelast and Nick Sirota.
The K-Wings return home on Wednesday night for a 7:00 pm game against the Reading Royals.
K-Wings News and Notes
Pack the House: All tickets to this Wednesday night’s game against the Reading Royals are $5 each. For an additional $10, fans can turn their tickets to all-you-can-eat seats. Wings Stadium will have a buffet featuring hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, Sloppy Joes, K-Wings boneless wings, French Fries and random desserts.
Shut out specialists: Since the K-Wings joined the ECHL four years ago, the team has been shutout a total of seven times. The Toledo Walleye have shutout the K-Wings three times.
Back-to-back: With their win over the Walleye on Sunday, the K-Wings have won back-to-back road games for the first time this season.
Work horse: K-Wings goaltender Joel Martin has been seeing his fair share of playing time. Playing every game since November 23rd, Martin leads the entire ECHL with 1,743 minutes played.