Walleye Fend Off Wheeling
Published on March 27, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release
Toledo, OH - In the biggest and most important game of the season this far, the Walleye needed to preserve a win on the home ice. On Saturday, the Walleye hosted the Wheeling Nailers, which trailed Toledo by two points for the eighth and final playoff spot. With only a few games left in the regular season, the matchup had playoff implications from start to finish.
Both teams clearly knew what was at stake in the sold-out Lucas County Arena, as the first period was an aggressive battle from the start. The first featured big hits, scrums around each net following scoring chances, 18 penalty minutes, and the go-ahead goal for the visiting team.
After a Chris Robertson penalty, the Nailers took to the man advantage. Jon D'Aversa threw a shot that hit the pads of
Alec Richards, but the puck bounced slowly over him and into the goal as he tried to sprawl to stop it at 11:08.
The first period seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game - hard fought and close, but the Walleye would come out in the second and control the game for the rest of the contest after scoring three goals in under two minutes.
At 5:31, Robertson had a deflected pass that went to Sal Peralta who cleanly shot it through to beat Adam Berkhoel to tie the game. Just over a minute later, Mike Hedden netted his 18th of the season for Toledo's first lead of the game.
Seconds later, Akim Aliu finished the scoring spree as he took a pass from Maxime Tanguay to build the 3-1 lead.
"We were an explosive team in the second - a team that looked hungry for a playoff spot," said Head Coach Nick Vitucci. "Our game was physical and fast."
Toledo built the lead in the third with a power play goal from Tanguay, his 24th, at 9:27.
Adam Keefe completed the scoring at 12:25 with his second goal of the year to make it 5-1, the final. Alec Richards quietly had a dominant night, stopping all but one of Wheeling's 28 shots.
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