Toledo, OH – The Toledo Walleye dropped this morning’s contest against the Bloomington Bison in overtime by a score of 4-3 in overtime at the Huntington Center. Brandon Hawkins recorded his 200^th professional goal, Mitch Lewandowski scored his first goal this season after returning to the Walleye a week ago, and Jacques Bouqout scored his first goal of the season. 

How it Happened:                    

The first period was pretty evenly contested, as neither team reached the score sheet and both sides played clean hockey. Toledo led Bloomington in shots 11 to 8 after one. 

Toledo took a hooking penalty at the 4:11 mark of the second period, giving Bloomington the first power play opportunity of the game that the Walleye killed off. Toledo went on a power play soon after the previous penalty expired, drawing a tripping call against Bloomington at the 6:40 mark of the second. Mitch Lewandowski capitalized, scoring his first goal with the Walleye this season on the power-play six seconds in. Brandon Hawkins recorded the lone assist on the goal, his 14^th point in his past 11 games. 

Jacques Bouquot added his first goal of the season at the 12:14 mark of the second to put Toledo up 2-0 over Bloomington off a turnover. Bouquot scored the goal unassisted. The Fish took a penalty about a minute later, putting Bloomington on their second power play of the day. 

Bloomington got on the board at the 15:59 mark of the second with a goal from Michael Robidoux to cut Toledo’s lead back down to one.

Brandon Hawkins notched seventh goal of the season and his 200^th professional goal with a one-timer from Chad Hillebrand with 17 seconds to go in the second period, putting the Walleye up 3-1. Hillebrand and Conlan Keenan each recorded assists on the goal. 

The Bison outshot the Walleye 15-7 in the second period, taking a 23-18 shot advantage in the game entering the third period.

Eddie Matsushima brought Bloomington within one again, scoring his 8^th goal of the year at the 4:42 mark of the third, making the score 3-2 Walleye. Sullivan Mack added another goal for the Bison to tie the game at 3 with 7:51 to go in regulation.

The game ended up going to overtime, as Bloomington led Toledo in shots 34-21 heading into the extra period. The Bison outshot the Walleye 11-3 in the third. Eddie Matsushima buried the game-winning goal at the 2:39 mark of overtime, scoring his second of the night to seal the loss.

Local 245 Three Stars:

1 - F Eddie Matsushima, BLM (2 G)

2 - F Brandon Hawkins, TOL (1 G, 1 A, 200th pro goal)

3 - F Sullivan Mack, BLM (1 G)

What’s Next:

The Walleye will prepare for two divisional games this weekend, the first of which will see the Fort Wayne Komets come back to town on Saturday. The Walleye took a 5-1 loss to the Komets in Fort Wayne last week but defeated them 2-1 at their lone meeting at the Huntington Center this season. Puck drop for the game is set for 7:15 PM.