Walleye Defeated By Gwinnett 5-3 On Friday Night - Rematch on Saturday Night
2/5/2010 - Tickets | February Schedule | Box Score
(Gwinnett, GA)– The Toledo Walleye fell behind by one in the first and never led as they fell in Gwinnett 5-3 on Friday. Toledo’s record is 25-17-1-3 on the season, and they are 9-7-1-2 on the road.
The Gwinnett Gladiators jumped out first thanks to a power play goal at 13:02. Forward Daniel Sullivan tipped a blue line shot from Drew Paris past goaltender Jordan Pearce to give Gwinnett a 1-0 lead. The Gladiators out-shot Toledo 13-9 in the first.
The Gladiators would jump ahead of the Walleye 2-0 early in the second period as Adam Berti tipped a blue line shot past Pearce at 1:53. Gwinnett had a great chance to extend their lead as they enjoyed a 5 on 3 power play for a 1:33 in the middle of the second period. Pearce kept the Gladiators from scoring with that power play as he turned aside 4 shots.
“It took us a bit to get going tonight offensively,” said Head Coach Nick Vitucci. “In the third period we really started to get going.”
Toledo would jump on the scoreboard at 17:45 as Dominic Osman let a wrist shot go from the top of the right circle that skipped through Gwinnett goaltender Danny Taylor for a power play goal. It was the 12th goal of the season for Dominic as Chris Robertson and Sebastien Piche drew the assists. Gwinnett would make it 3-1 Gladiators at 18:53 when Michael Forney’s wrist shot skipped off the stick of Pearce and into the back of the net.
“I thought defensively we were good in our own end,” Vitucci said. “They are a very good offensive team with terrific skill up front. We did a nice job countering that, but credit their team for getting it done tonight.”
Gwinnett would extend the lead to three at 1:49 of the third with the second goal of the game from Michael Forney. The Walleye would score again on the power play at 7:16 of the third when Mark Nebus fired in his 5th goal of the year. JC Sawyer started the play with a pass to Dominic Osman at the right of the net in which Osman fed Nebus at the left side for the goal. Maxime Tanguay was awarded a penalty shot at 18:09 and beat Taylor to bring the Walleye within one goal. Gwinnett would add an empty net goal at 18:47 from Tim Miller.
Walleye Notes: Jordan Pearce started and made 30 saves in defeat. Dominic Osman scored for the fourth time in his last seven games.
Goaltender Alec Richards returned to the Walleye after a brief one game stay as Rockford's back-up. Center Adam Hobson was reassigned to Rockford on Thursday.
Current Playoff Standings:
1-South Carolina (70 pts) - division leader
2-Cincinnati (61) - division leader
3-Elmira (51) - division leader
4-Charlotte (56)
5-Kalamazoo (54)
6-Toledo (54)
7-Florida (54)
8-Wheeling (53)
9-Reading (50)
The teams will play again on Saturday night in Gwinnett (7:05 pm) before the Walleye move on to play at Charlotte on Sunday afternoon (2:00 pm). Listen to the game on Fox Sports Radio 1230 with Matt Melzak or watch the games on b2 Networks.
Toledo will be back on the home ice Friday, February 12 against the Cincinnati Cyclones.
