K-Wings five-game winning streak ends

After snapping their six-game losing streak last week, the Kalamazoo Wings (9-11-0-1) reeled off five-straight wins.  The winning streak came to an end on Sunday evening as the Cincinnati Cyclones defeated the K-Wings 3-1 at Wings Event Center.

The K-Wings are currently tied for fifth place in the Central Division standings, three points behind the Indy Fuel, who are in fourth place.

On Friday, the K-Wings defeated the Indy Fuel by a score of 5-3.   The two teams were tied 1-1 after the first period. Kyle Bushee scored his second of the season midway into the period while Matthew Thompson scored for the Fuel.

The Fuel jumped to a 3-1 lead with a pair of goals early in the second period, but the K-Wings scored four unanswered goals to take an eventual 5-3 win.  Reid Gardiner, Brendan Bradley, Zach Saar and Justin Taylor scored for the K-Wings. The goal by Saar was on the power play, while Taylor’s tally was an empty-net goal.

On Saturday, the K-Wings hosted the Tulsa Oilers on Teddy Bear Toss night.  The two teams exchanged goals all evening, with the K-Wings holding on for the 3-2 victory.

A goal by Justin Taylor in the opening minutes of the game helped bring over 1,500 stuffed animals on to the ice.  The stuffed toys will donated to the Bronson Children’s Hospital.

The Oilers knotted the game 1-1 late in the second period, but Kyle Blaney’s fourth of the season gave the K-Wings the lead minutes later.

Tying the game again, the Oilers made it a 2-2 game just past the halfway point of the third period, before Tanner Sorenson scored his first goal since rejoining the team later in the period for a 3-2 win.  Goaltender Ivan Kubalkov turned away 49 of the 51 shots he faced in the game.

The K-Wings win streak was snapped on Sunday as the visiting Cincinnati Cyclones skated away with a 3-1 victory.  The lone goal for the K-Wings was scored by Gardiner, a short-handed marker in the second period that cut the Cyclones lead to 2-1.  Judd Peterson scored an empty net goal late in the third period for the 3-1 final.

Justin Taylor saw his five-game goal scoring streak come to an end in the loss.

The K-Wings travel to Brampton to battle the Beast on Wednesday. The team will be home for three games this weekend as they face the Wheeling Nailers and Beast on Friday and Saturday and the Wichita Thunder on Sunday.

Submitted by Mark McGlothlen