Saturday night was a busy one at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, as the K-Wings topped Toledo 4-3 in overtime.
It was the Warrior/ECHL Hockey Heritage Game, presented by Discovery! Kalamazoo and Firekeepers, and the spectators on hand were treated to a good one.
The K-Wings retired franchise legend Brent Jarrett’s No. 11 before the game, making it the sixth number to be hung from the rafters.
Ben Berard provided the overtime-winning goal.
The Walleye scored first at the 1:44 mark of the opening period on Darian Pilon’s first goal of the season, assisted by Casey Dornbach and Jed Pietila.
Blake Christensen scored his first goal as a K-Wing and his fourth of the season just 29 seconds later to tie the game 1-1. While seated on the ice, Luc Salem slipped the puck to Jon Martin, who raced down the left side and found Christensen waiting at the bottom of the right circle for a one-timer.
Josh Bloom put Kalamazoo ahead 2-1 at 4:11. Zach Berzolla couldn’t connect on the initial shot, but Bloom put it in from the doorstep on the right side of the crease.
At 12:20 of the middle frame, Preston put in a long rebound from Collin Saccoman for a 3-1 Wings lead on a backhand-to-forehand move.
The Walleye didn’t have a 24-9-4 record before the game for nothing, and they mounted a comeback.
At 13:56 of the third period, Carson Bantle cut Toledo’s deficit to 3-2. Pilon then tied the game on a tip-in for his second tally of the night at 14:28.
The score remained that way until the 1:21 mark of overtime, when Berard tucked in a Joe Arntsen feed in the right circle. Christensen earned the secondary assist on the game-winner.
K-Wings goalie Ty Young picked up 28 saves to move his record to 5-5-0. Kalamazoo outshot the Walleye 34-31 and went a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty-kill.
