Fishers, IN – The Toledo Walleye dropped tonight’s game by a score of 3-2 in a shootout against the Indy Fuel at Fishers Event Center. Tanner Dickinson scored a goal and recorded an assist, extending his point streak to six games (with three goals and five assists). Brandon Hawkins extended his point streak to nine games with an assist, which is the longest such streak in the ECHL this season. Riley McCourt also recorded an assist, his fifth in his last four games. 

How it Happened:

The first period featured a lot of icing calls and a couple of close scoring chances from both sides, but no scoring. Toledo got their first chance at a power play with 1:17 to go in the first as they drew a cross-checking call. Toledo and Indy each had 6 shots on the period, and 43 seconds of Toledo’s power play carried over to begin the second period. 

Indy struck first on the scoreboard, recording the game’s first goal at the 4:18 mark of the second period. Tyson Feist got the goal, his first of the year. Toledo fired back less than two minutes later, as Brendan Michaelian scored his first goal of the year at the 6:13 mark of the second. Dylan Moulton and Tanner Dickinson each got assists on that goal. 

Toledo finished the second period with a one-shot advantage over the Fuel (13-12) as the teams carried a 1-1 tie into the third period.

The Fuel re-took the lead with a goal from Will Ennis, his first goal of the season, at the 4:41 mark of the third period to go up two goals to one. 

The Walleye took a slashing penalty at the 7:54 mark of the third period, giving Indy their first power play opportunity of the game. Toledo successfully killed off that penalty to keep the game within one goal with 10 minutes to go in the third period. 

Toledo got another power play chance as Chris Cameron got his stick up in Mitch Lewandowski’s face with 4:31 to go in the third. Tanner Dickinson took advantage and scored his team-leading 7^th goal of the season on the power play with 4:12 to go. Brandon Hawkins and Riley McCourt each got assists on the goal, extending their respective point streaks. 

Regulation wasn’t enough to settle this game, so the Walleye headed to 3-on-3 overtime for the second time this week. Indy outshot Toledo in regulation 24-22 while the game went to OT in a 2-2 tie. 

Toledo got 3 shots on goal in overtime to Indy’s 1, but the game moved on to a shootout. Each team had 25 shots on net at the conclusion of the overtime period. 

Sahil Panwar shot first for Indy and scored on Nolan Lalonde. Brandon Hawkins shot next but couldn’t get the puck over the pad of Mitchell Weeks. Cody Laskosky scored in Indy’s second shot attempt, meaning Toledo had to score to stay alive. Mitch Lewandowski did score in the second round for the Fish. Lee Lapid shot third for the Fuel, scoring on his shot to secure the win for Indy. 

Three Stars:

1 – F Sahil Panwar, IND (1 A)

2 – D Tyson Feist, IND (1 G)

3 – F Tanner Dickinson, TOL (1 G, 1 A)

What’s Next:

The Walleye will head over to Fort Wayne tomorrow night to take on the division-leading Komets for the second time this season. Toledo handed Fort Wayne one of their four regulation losses this season in the only meeting between the two teams back on November 15^th. Puck drop for the Sunday evening contest at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is set for 5:05 PM.