Dispatches from the Kalamazoo Wings: November 29

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Kalamazoo Wings walked away from this week with a mixed bag of results. In a quick back-to-back and the start of a week-long road trip, the Wings picked up three of a possible six points.

Continuing their offensive avalanche of late, the Wings fired out 55 shots against the Brampton Beast on Thursday. Danny Moynihan opened the scoring with a wrister off a feed from forward Brendan Bradley, netting his seventh goal of the season for the Wings. The Beast answered back in the second period, with goals from Chris Leveille and Eric Ylitalo. Playing his former team may have sparked something for Ylitalo, who started this season on the Wings’ roster, but was released after two games. The Beast picked him up earlier this month. His goal against the Wings was his first professional goal.

It looked as though Brampton might take the game in regulation, but with just over a minute left to play, Lane Scheidl tipped in a shot from Justin Taylor to guarantee the Wings left with a point. In another buzzer-beater, Brandon Morino scored off a line change with only 16 seconds left in overtime, giving Brampton the 3-2 win.

The team headed back to Kalamazoo to face the Kansas City Mavericks the very next day. The Mavericks had handed Kalamazoo their first loss of the season, pushing them all the way to a shootout last month.

Back on home ice, the Wings looked like a better team. They didn’t convert on an early power play opportunity, but they were able to set up and stay in the zone, an issue that has plagued their power play over the last several games. Though they didn’t score on the power play, that confidence led to some extra chances, and they were able to maintain that motivation through a scoreless first period.

Both teams were held at bay until the final three minutes of the second period, when Tyler Heinonen went top-shelf on Mason McDonald, putting the Wings on the board first. They went into the third with a one-point lead, and they came out of the gate ready to build on it. A minute into the period, Kyle Blaney got the puck to Tyler Biggs, who found the back of the Maverick’s net.

Four minutes later, Danny Moynihan made a pass to Jimmy Mullin, who scored on a sleek wraparound goal. Mullin was playing his tenth professional game that night, having missed last season due to injury. He’s been working his way back to game shape and scored his first professional goal with his parents watching in the stands.

“I’m happy that we got the win and happy to contribute to the team. Hopefully, I can just keep going and helping the team, and that’s the number one goal, winning the game.

“Last year, watching a lot of games – you get anxious, you want to play. Finally, I’m getting my chances to go out there and do something.” Mullin went on to explain that his goal was the culmination of a year of hard work. “You keep working hard and good things happen, and I think that’s kind of what happened tonight.”

The Mavericks found a way to answer back, Justin Breton beating Joel Martin top corner and spoiling his shutout. But the Wings pressed on, Kyle Bushee scoring on a shorthanded bomb halfway through the period. Eighteen seconds later, the speedy Brendan Bradley got a puck to the net that deflected off Danny Moynihan and past McDonald, just after the penalty to Charlie Vasaturo expired. The Wings didn’t sit back on their heels, even with a four-goal lead, and they kept Kansas City off the board, closing the game out at 5-1.

The win was much-needed for a Kalamazoo team that has had some hard-fought games that ended in losses recently. Defenseman Kyle Bushee said the win was a good payoff for their performance that night.

“I don’t really believe in moral victories: you in or you lose, there’s no in-between. But the takeaway and the positive of the last few games is that our effort was there and we peppered them with shots, which can be a little bit misleading. But tonight, we found a way to get some ugly goals in some hard areas, and for guys to get rewarded, I think that was a big morale booster for us, especially the way it’d gone the last two games, where we’d had 49 or 50 shots and only four goals to show for it.”

Tyler Biggs was a little simpler in his analysis: “It’s about time,” he laughed. “They were hard-fought games. There were times I thought we’d definitely earned a ‘W,’ and didn’t get it. But it’s a long season, and you’re gonna go through stretches like that. It’s just nice to be back in the win column.”

Jimmy Mullin barely had time to celebrate his first professional goal, sneaking in a dinner with his parents before the team took off at four in the morning following the win to get a head start on a week-long road trip, opening with their first-ever game against the Wichita Thunder on Sunday.

The top team in the Mountain Division put Kalamazoo to the test. Michael Garteig faced 40 shots, letting four get past him. The Wings were able to put up 38 shots of their own, but the lone power play goal scored by Kyle Blaney wasn’t enough to keep them afloat.

Following the game against Wichita, Danny Moynihan, who leads the Wings in points (14) and goals (8), was called up to the Utica Comets. His offence has been a major piece of this team so far, and his absence on the top power play unit will be noticeable, as special teams still struggle to find their footing.

The Wings will be facing tough competition on this road trip, including another meeting against the Kansas City Mavericks, who sit second in the Central Division. They know they have to prepare.

“They’re not going to be easy games,” said Kyle Bushee. “But for us, just to be simple and hard – get to the hard areas, do the little things, and we’ll be fine.”

“Just stay healthy,” Tyler Biggs added. “We’ve got to take care of our bodies and when we show up to the rink, just be ready to play.”