Game Day: Military Appreciation Weekend Starts Against Toledo

Game #10

Kalamazoo (4-4-0-1) vs Toledo (7-1-1-0)

7:30 pm | Wings Event Center

Watch: ECHL.TV

Listen: 1660 the Fan

Last Time Out:The K-Wings snapped a four-game skid on Sunday afternoon, topping Idaho 3-1. Kalmazoo opened the scoring in the middle frame short-handed as Wade Murphy tallied for the second straight game. The Steelheads quickly answered back to tie the game at 1-1, but the Kalamazoo offense wasn't done for the day. Just about two minutes after Idaho tied the game Justin Taylor put Kalamazoo back on top. Scoring in his fourth consecutive game, Taylor netted the K-Wings second and third goals of the night, to give Kalamazoo the 3-1 victory. Taylor's first tally came on the power play, giving the K-Wings their first power play goal since Oct. 26. Keegan Asmundson, making his first start of the season, stopped 29 of 30 shots en route to the victory. 

Season Series:Kalamazoo and Toledo meet for the second time this season on Friday night. The first meeting went to the Walleye as they topped the K-Wings in a shootout, in front of over 5,000 children on Education Day. The rivals will play a total of 12 times this season, split perfectly even between Wings Event Center and the Huntington Center in Toledo. In the first meeting Kyle Blaney and Justin Taylor scored for the K-Wings, while Ben Storm and Shane Berschbach scored for the Walleye. 

A Pair of Streaks:Two of the ECHL's longest active scoring streaks will be on the line Friday as Justin Taylor (4 games) and Shane Berschbach (5 games). Berschbach's streak is the longest active one in the ECHL, and is one game short of the longest one this season. The forward has scored once in each game, running his total to seven on the season. 

Taylor, who is tied for second with eight goals this season, is one of four players with current four-game scoring streaks. The Mindemoya, ON native has five goals over the span. Taylor's longest career scoring streak is seven games, set in the 2015-16 season. 

Honoring Those Who Serve:Kalamazoo will wear Military appreciation jerseys both Friday and Saturday nights at Wings Event Center. The game-worn jerseys will be auctioned off following the game on Saturday night. Proceeds from the live on-ice jersey auction will be donated to Talons Out.

In addition world renowned artist and musician Joe Everson will perform the National Anthem on Friday night. Everson, who paints a picture while singing the anthem, has performed for professional sports teams ranging from the MLS to NBA as well as large companies as well. The painting done during the anthem performance in addition to another Everson original will be auctioned off as a part of the post-game auction on Saturday night.  

Special Teams:The K-Wings special teams were on display last Sunday, scoring short-handed, as well as on the power play. The power play tally for the K-Wings broke a four-game, 21 attempt scoreless streak. Kalamazoo has scored on the man-advantage three times this season, split over two games. The Kalamazoo penalty kill scored the fourth short-handed goal of the season on Sunday, tying them for the most short-handed tallies this season. Kalamazoo is one of five teams to score four short-handed goals through the first portion of the season. Last year the K-Wings netted a total five short-handed goals all season.

Kat is Back:Kalamazoo activated veteran defenseman Eric Kattelus off injured reserve on Friday morning. Kattelus is available to make his season debut on Friday night after missing the first nine games of the season. Kalamazoo also activated Zach Saar off IR on Friday morning as well. Forward Eric Ylitalo was released to make room for Saar and Ylitalo.