KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Wings (23-28-4-0) withstood a third-period shot barrage from the Tulsa Oilers (19-27-7-1) and scored twice late to earn a 3-1 victory Sunday at Wings Event Center.
Evan Cormier (8-16-3-0) was a brick wall in net – handling everything the Oilers had to offer – even making saves with a skater’s stick (23/23 in the third period) – and stopping 44 of 45 shots in the victory.
Kalamazoo scored the first goal of the game off the stick of Raymond Brice (11) at the 3:32 mark of the first period. Brice took the feed from Mason McCarty (10) and drove down through the right circle, turning left to the goalmouth and tucking the puck around Tulsa netminder Daniel Mannella (5-12-2-0) for the score. Justin Murray (19) notched the secondary assist on the play.
The Oilers responded with a goal at the 13:30 mark, owning an 11-5 shot advantage through that point. But the K-Wings fired back steadily from then through the end of the second, taking a 26-22 edge in the shot department heading into the third period with the score still 1-1.
Then, it was Ole Julian Bjørgvik-Holm (1) scoring his second professional goal and first in the ECHL to regain the lead at the 13:44 mark of the third. On the play, Coale Norris (7) gathered the puck behind Tulsa’s net and swished it to McCarty (11) at the bottom of the left circle, who fed Bjørgvik-Holm in the slot for the one-timer.
Justin Taylor (13) found the empty net at the 19:20 mark after a Brice-created turnover just inside the K-Wings blue line to wrap up the win for Kalamazoo. The goal goes in the books as No. 250 in a K-Wings uniform for Taylor.
The K-Wings get set for a matchup Friday versus the Toledo Walleye (35-15-4-2) at 7:00 p.m. at Wings Event Center.
Broadcast time on 590/106.9 WKZO is set for 6:35 pm.
THIS REPORT WAS WRITTEN BY CHRIS CADEAU, VOICE OF THE K WINGS
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