K-WINGS THRIVE AGAIN VIA LATE GAME HEROICS

Box Score

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 12, 2022

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Wings (17-12-0-0) used puck luck and resiliency to down the Fort Wayne Komets (17-10-4-1) by a score of 5-4 at home on Wednesday.

Once again, it was another comeback for the K-Wings. This time, the game winner was attributed to an awkward home team bounce off the boards that landed directly on the stick of Logan Lambdin (13) with 52 seconds remaining for Kalamazoo.

The sequence was a simple dump in from just outside the blue line by Andrew DeBrincat - and as the puck cycled around the boards - with Fort Wayne goaltender Liam Hughes heading behind the net to collect - the puck caromed on a right-angle straight into the lap of Lambdin from the corner.

And Lambdin buried it.

The rookie, Lambdin, now has points in each of his last six games (5G, 2A).

But how did they get to that point?

The game started with a pair of shorthanded goals in the first 11 minutes. First it was the Komets, and then Kyle Blaney (5) returned the favor.

Blaney’s goal was the niftiest of the evening as he took a smooth feed from Denis Smirnov (2) exiting the zone. He then split the D going backhand to forehand for the score.

Cody Corbet’s floater about 8-feet inside the blue line on the boards gave the K-wings the 2-1 lead at the first intermission. It was Corbet’s first of the season.

Then, in just his second game with Kalamazoo, the veteran Greg Mauldin (1) scored his first goal and extended the lead to 3-1.

Matt Alvaro then single handedly pulled the Komets back in it with two goals (7) to finish the second period. The Komets scored once more to take the lead at the 6:05 mark of the third.

But it was Greg Betzold (4), who snapped the twine from the right circle, thanks to a Justin Murray (5) feed, that knotted the game up 4-4.

Trevor Gorsuch (6-7) made 31 saves on the evening and looked stout in net for the K-Wings on Wednesday. Gorsuch had multiple scoring chance robberies to keep Kalamazoo in it for the late game heroics again.

Next up for the K-Wings is the Toledo Walleye (20-7-0-2) at 7 p.m. for Marvel Night this Friday at Wings Event Center.

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The Kalamazoo Wings are a professional hockey team located in southwest Michigan that has been a staple in the Kalamazoo, MI professional sports landscape since 1974. The K-Wings compete in the ECHL and are the AA affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets and American Hockey League’s Cleveland Monsters. Kalamazoo plays their 36 regular season home games at Wings Event Center from October through April.