Game Day: Beast Visit on Military Appreciation Night

Game #11

Brampton (5-4-1-0) vsKalamazoo (4-5-0-1)

7:30 pm | Wings Event Center

Watch: ECHL.TV

Listen: 1660 the Fan

Last Time Out:Kalamazoo found themselves in a 3-0 hole after the first 20 minutes of play and wasn't able to climb back as they fell to the Walleye 5-2 on Friday night at Wings Event Center. After surrendering each of the first two goals the K-Wings got on the board just about midway through the first. Aleksandr Mikulovich took a pass from Eric Kattelus and rifled it past Kaden Fulcher for his first goal of the season. Before the period ended the Walleye pushed the lead back to two goals, and would extend it to a four-goal lead, before the start of the third. 

In the third period the Kalamazoo power play got on the board as Jagger Dirk netted his second of the season, cutting the lead to 5-2. Dirks tally was the only one of the final frame as Toledo wrapped up a 5-2 victory. 

Season Series:The K-Wings and Beast will face off five times this season, including three at Wings Event Center. Last year the squads faced off on nine occassions with Kalamazoo winning four of those, taking points in two others. Over the last few years the K-Wings have been strong against the Beast posting a record of 18-6-3-0. At home the tale has been much more favorable for the K-Wings as they've won ten of 14 meetings, and forced two more into the extra period. Seven times during that stretch the K-Wings and Beast have gone past regulation with Kalamazoo being victorious on four of those occassions.

Military Appreciation Night:Saturday night the K-Wings will honor those who have served in the Military as a part of Military Appreciation Night. Kalamazoo will wear special military themed jerseys for the second straight night. The jerseys will be auctioned off after the game on the ice. Fans are invited to stick around after the game and take part in the live auction. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to Talons Out.

In addition two paintings done by Friday night's anthem performer Joe Everson will be available as well, including the painting done during the National Anthem before Friday's game.

Special Teams:The Kalamazoo power play scored on Friday, giving the unit goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Kalamazoo had gone scoreless on 21 consecutive attempts before breaking through with a power play goal from Justin Taylor on Sunday afternoon. Defenseman Jagger Dirk followed that up with a power play tally of his own on Friday night. The K-Wings finished the night one-for-six on the man-advantage, moving the power play to 9.1% on the season.

On the other side the K-Wings penalty kill blanked the Walleye on four attempts, moving to 81.4% on the season. 

Getting Offense from the Defense:Goals from Aleksandr Mikulovich and Jagger Dirk last night continued an uptick in offensive production from the Kalamazoo blue liners in recent games. So far the Kalamazoo defense has combined for five of the teams 27 goals (18.5%) while adding an additional 15 assists this season. Overall Kalamazoo has used nine defensemen this season, with eight of them recording at least a single point.

Upcoming:After a three game road-swing the K-Wings return home on Black Friday to host the Ft. Wayne Komets. Only two of the K-Wings final seven games in the month of November will take place at home, however Kalamazoo returns home in December in a big way playing 11 of 15 games at Wings Event Center.