Wings earn point in Thanksgiving meeting with Beast

BRAMPTON, ON, CA—The Kalamazoo Wings fired 55 shots on goal and forced overtime with a last-minute equalizer, but couldn’t complete a comeback over the Brampton Beast, who escaped with a 3-2 win on Thursday at Powerade Centre.

After a flurry of chances from both sides in the opening minutes of the first period, the Wings finally got a chance to leak through Beast netminder Marcus Hogberg. Springing the puck forward, Brendan Bradley gained the zone, waited for a trailer, and fired a rink-wide feed to Danny Moynihan. Moynihan was unmarked, carried to the slot area, and zipped a wrist shot over the blocker of Hogberg for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. It was the only tally of the first period and sent the Wings into the break with a 1-0 edge.

After a back-and-forth start to the second period, the Beast tied the game with a crisp passing play in the offensive zone. Willie Corrin looked to the back door and fired a tape-to-tape feed to Chris Leveille, who had an easy tap in at the top of the crease.

With under three minutes to go in the second, an aggressive Brampton forecheck paid dividends for their second strike of the contest. Jackson Leef dug the puck out of a scrum in the corner and worked it into the low slot for Eric Ylitalo, who rolled a backhand past Joel Martin for his first career goal, eventually sending Kalamazoo to the second intermission down by a t.

Peppering Hogberg with chances in the third, the Wings needed over 18 minutes to strike for a tying goal. With Martin on the bench for an extra attacker, the Wings dominated the possession of the puck and generated a multitude of opportunities. Justin Taylor blasted a long slap shot which was tipped in front by Lane Scheidl, with 1:15 to go in regulation.

Scheidl’s goal forced three-on-three overtime, and each team had a handful of chances in the extra frame. With 16 seconds remaining, Brandon Marino leaped over the bench on a line change, had the puck slide to his tape, and walked towards the goal where he lifted a backhander into the net for the game winner.

Next: Kalamazoo vs. Kansas City Mavericks- Friday, November 24, 7 p.m., Wings Event Center.

Broadcast information: Friday’s game will air on AM 1660 The Fan in Kalamazoo or online at www.1660thefan.com/listen-live.

Stats: https://www.echl.com/stats/game-center/15126

Single-game tickets are on sale! Tickets start as low as $10 and can be purchased at http://kwings.com/SingleGameTickets or at the Wings Event Center box office.