Dispatches from the Kalamazoo Wings: November 2

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Kalamazoo Wings faced off against the Cincinnati Cyclones twice this week, splitting the series and earning their first regulation loss of the season. Only three teams remain in the league without a regulation loss yet this season.

“I think you treat it like a playoff series,” said Justin Taylor, who appeared in his 450^th career ECHL game on Wednesday. “We’ve seen them three times in six games, so there’s a little bit of that animosity toward each other.”

They first faced off for the Wings’ Halloween Orange Ice game on Saturday. With a power play opportunity early the first period, Danny Moynihan slapped a feed from Kyle Bushee to the back of the net, getting the Wings on the scoreboard first. The Cyclones responded a few minutes later when Mitch Nylen put a wrister past the Wings’ netminder, Michael Garteig. Less than a minute later, Kyle Bushee sat in the box for hooking, allowing Shawn O’Donnell to put the Cyclones up by two.

The second period was almost all Kalamazoo. Just over a minute in, Tyler Biggs tied the game with a short-side top corner goal. It was followed by Moynihan’s second goal of the night, redirecting a shot from Aaron Irving in front of the net. Justin Danforth tried to keep the Cyclones in the game, getting the puck over the pads of Michael Garteig, but while Arvin Atwal sat for roughing, Brycen Martin took a penalty for slashing, and Biggs was able to convert on the ensuing 5-on-3 power play, putting the Wings back on top.

Garteig was busy in net, facing 15 shots in the third period. The Wings pulled out seven shots of their own, and Josh Pitt would guarantee the win by banking a rebound from Lane Scheidl. The Cyclones dominated large portions of the game, out-shooting the Wings 37-24. The Wings’ special teams held the Cyclones at bay, only scoring once on eleven power play opportunities for the Cyclones, while the Wings went two for four on their own power play.

Bushee took a skate to his thigh during the game. While he was hopeful to return for Wednesday’s game, he didn’t take the ice. Though the second game was more physical, there was less special teams time, making for a more even match between the two teams.

“You start to fine-tune your systems,” said Justin Taylor. “Players are identifying where they need to be on the ice and we’re doing the exact same thing. So you see a team three times out of six games, you start to kinda – not necessarily cheat, but anticipate what’s gonna happen.”

The second meeting started off with a bang. Biggs and Brandon McNally dropped the mitts, Biggs taking him down before the pair were assessed matching five-minute majors. Six minutes into the first period, Josh Pitt gave the Wings another edge, getting them on the board first. Peter Scheider’s assist on the goal extended his point streak to 19 games.

Cincinnati came out hard and heavy after that, laying big hits in a game that moved at a much faster pace than the games that opened the season. Kalamazoo kept up, and Justin Taylor extended their lead to two with only seconds left in the first period.

“It was definitely nice to get the two-goal lead going into the second, but in the end, it didn’t change our strategy or our focus,” said Pitt.

The Cyclones looked much better going into the second. Though there wasn’t much in the way of scoring, several players still stood out. Danny Moynihan’s skating allowed him to weave through opponents like it was nothing on the power play. Anton Cederholm broke up plays on the penalty kill, keeping the Cyclones from finding the back of the net. Brendan Bradley stood out with his speed. Even though the Wings have dominated in offensively so far this season, six games in, it’s clear that they’ve focused on developing two-way players.

Andrew Radjenovic cut the Wings’ lead in half with five minutes to go in the second, and the Cyclones evened out in shots at 26 apiece.

The Wings won the opening faceoff for the third period and held the Cyclones out of their zone for the first two minutes of play. But once the Cyclones got the puck, they were deadly with it, allowing Daniel Muzito-Bagenda to net the tying goal, his first of the season. Just two minutes later, McNally gave the Cyclones their first lead.

Halfway through the third, Tyler Heinonen tied the game again, also with his first goal of the season. With some sustained pressure on goaltender Anthony Peters, it seemed like the Wings could make a comeback, but on a messy play, Justin Schultz gave the Cyclones the game winner and the Wings lost for the first time in regulation this season.

Pitt was emotional about the loss. “[I feel] disappointment, for sure. Unhappy with how we played, the result, everything about tonight. We wanted to keep our winning streak going – the unbeaten streak, unbeaten in regulation. We didn’t put in the effort we needed to to get that done.”

That frustration built from the third period, as Justin Taylor explained that they had felt good early in the game. “Obviously we were up 2-0, but we still were happy with our play. We kinda got some fortunate bounces there, and they were playing pretty hard. They were a desperate team on the other side, so we tried to match the intensity, and tried to do our best to keep them off the scoreboard as well.”

Pitt explained further that they knew they had to maintain that level of play. “It was definitely nice to get the two-goal lead going into the second, but in the end, it didn’t change our strategy or our focus. We just needed to keep working hard, and we didn’t do that, and they got back in the game because of that.”

The Wings have found themselves earning a lead, then playing from behind more than once this season. Pitt is aware of the problem. “Yeah, we obviously have to address it. It’s great to get leads like that, but we can’t get comfortable when we do that. We have to keep our foot on the pedal. We didn’t do that tonight, and you do it, teams like this are gonna come back, and they’re gonna work hard, they’re gonna get back in the game, and it’s gonna catch up to you.”

Both of the Wings’ losses this season have come after losing a lead, blowing a 3-1 lead and losing in a shootout to the Kansas City Mavericks. Though the Wings are best in the division right now, Pitt takes it for what it is at this point in the season.

“To be honest, it means nothing right now. We played six, seven games, that doesn’t mean anything. There’s still sixty left to go. We’re obviously going to have to win a lot more games to stay where we are, to even make the playoffs. So yeah, every night’s a new night. We gotta keep going, we gotta keep getting the wins, and we’re gonna do it one game at a time.”

With a big weekend coming up, a tough travel schedule, and a rivalry game, the Wings are looking to reset and refocus. “You gotta take it as a learning curve,” said Taylor. “We know that we didn’t play our best tonight and we’ve got a big weekend, a big test with Toledo and Fort Wayne, Saturday and Sunday, so we gotta park it a little bit, try to take the good and the bad out of it. We can learn and then apply it to the games this weekend.”

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