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ECHL Kalamazoo Wings

K-Wings earn a "Taylor" made victory

January 31, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Kalamazoo Wings News Release


KALAMAZOO- Justin Taylor literally had a special game on Saturday, scoring both shorthanded and the eventual game-winner on the power-play, as he led the Kalamazoo Wings to a 4-3 victory over the Wheeling Nailers.

Just as they did the night before, the Nailers jumped out of the gates with a quick tally. Skating below the left circle, Tyler Murovich (4th) ripped a wrister past Joel Martin 3:01 into the contest.

Kalamazoo responded less than three minutes later with an innocent dump-in from Eric Kattelus. As the puck with hit the end wall boards, it bounced back to the slot to the stick of Matt Caria for the equalizer. The goal was Caria's team-leading 13th goal of the season and extended his point streak to four games. The assist from Kattelus was his 100th of his career and gave the forward points in 11 out his last 12 games.

While killing off a Jean Bourbeau five-minute major penalty, the K-Wings would take the lead with a shorthanded rebound marker from Taylor (5th).

As part of the same infraction, the Nailers evened the game at 2-2 with a five-on-three power-play goal from Derek Army (18th). Stopping a K-Wings odd-man rush, Wheeling quickly moved the puck up to Army for the game-tying goal.

Less than two minutes after the Nailers tied the game, they would pull ahead with a left-circle wrister from Chaz Johnson (9th).

Even with the lead, the Nailers momentum would be short lived. Standing behind the Wheeling net, Kattelus earned his third assist of the night sending a centering pass to Dane Fox for his team-tying 13th goal of the season 14:59 into the period.

Breaking a 0-for-29 streak on the power play, the K-Wings took the lead for good early in the final stanza. Taylor used a burst of speed through the neutral zone and walked around the Wheeling defense at the blue-line and lifted a backhander over the glove of Palazzese for his second special team's goal of the night.

Martin (13-9-1-1) made 26 saves in the victory. With the win, the K-Wings move into fourth place in the North Division and are now just one point behind the third place Cincinnati Cyclones.

Kalamazoo will travel to the U.S. Bank Arena on Wednesday, February 4th for a 7:35 p.m. encounter against the Cincinnati.

The K-Wings will return home on Friday, February 6th for a 7:30 p.m. face-off versus the Fort Wayne Komets on U.S.A Curling Nationals Night. This Friday will also be a 3, 2, 1 Countdown to Fun! featuring $3 beer, $2 Pepsi Products and $1 hot dogs.

Tickets for all K-Wings home games are currently on sale at Wings Stadium Ticket Office, all Ticketmaster locations, including www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 745-3000.

Fans that plan on attending multiple games can avoid service fees plus enjoy a discount from the single-game price by purchasing a 12, 24 or 36-game flexi-plan. These plans along with group (15 or more people) ticket packages may be ordered through the K-Wings front office by calling (269) 743-6011.

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