Quinn Preston scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, and the Toledo Walleye beat the Kalamazoo Wings 3-2 on Wednesday night at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo. Preston and Kyle Gaffney each finished with a goal and an assist, and Toledo outshot Kalamazoo 37-22.
Kalamazoo opened the scoring on the power play at 13:45 of the first period, when Dylan Wendt finished a play from Ryan St. Louis and Konstantin Khremkin. Toledo tied it 2:36 later as Gaffney scored his first goal of the season, set up by Preston and Mitch Lewandowski.
The Walleye took their first lead on the power play at 10:03 of the second period, with Brandon Hawkins scoring from Brandon Kruse and Marcus Crawford. Kalamazoo’s Brandon Buhr tied it 2-2 at 6:48 of the third, assisted by Noah Ellis and St. Louis, but Toledo needed only 81 seconds to answer. Preston put the Walleye back in front at 8:09, with Gaffney and Lewandowski picking up assists, and that goal held up as the winner.
Jonathan Lemieux made 20 saves on 22 shots for Toledo, with Nick Grabko serving as the backup. Aku Koskenvuo stopped 34 of 37 for Kalamazoo, which pulled him for an extra attacker in the final minute without finding the equalizer. Each team went 1-for-3 on the power play and took eight penalty minutes. Preston, Gaffney, and Buhr were named the game’s three stars. Attendance was 1,636.
It was the second straight one-goal win over Kalamazoo for the Red Wings’ ECHL affiliate, which also beat the K-Wings 3-2 on Oct. 30. Earlier Wednesday, Detroit reassigned goaltender Carter Gylander from Toledo to Grand Rapids.
The teams meet again Friday at 7 p.m. in Kalamazoo. Toledo then plays its home opener Saturday, Opening Night against the Fort Wayne Komets at 7:15 p.m. at the Huntington Center.
Earlier Wednesday on Mitten Hockey: Red Wings send goaltender Carter Gylander back to Grand Rapids from Toledo.
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