Toledo, OH – The Toledo Walleye lost to the Fort Wayne Komets 4-3 in overtime at the Huntington Center tonight. Newcomers Ryland Mosley scored Toledo's first goal, Johnny Waldron recorded a goal and an assist for his 5th and 6th points as a Walleye, and Mitch Lewandowski tied the game late. 

How it Happened:

Brandon Hawkins took the game’s first penalty, a tripping minor, 7:17 into the first period to give the Komets their first power play chance of the night. Toledo killed off the penalty and Hawkins was all alone with the puck as he left the box, but couldn’t bury his shot. 

Colin Swoyer went to the box for a hooking call after Fort Wayne played on with the delayed penalty for about two minutes, finally coughing up the puck at the 12:58 mark of the first. Toledo killed off that penalty as well, their second kill of the night. 

Tanner Dickinson and Austin Magera each took offsetting roughing penalties at the 7:11 mark of the second period, leading to two minutes of 4-on-four hockey. Toledo finally got their first power play chance before the roughing penalties expired, as Matt Copponi took a tripping penalty at the 8:50 mark of the second (21 seconds 4-on-3). 

The Walleye went 5-on-3 for 16 seconds as Tyler Inamoto took a delay of game penalty for covering the puck in front of the net. They didn’t score before the end of the penalty to Copponi, but Ryland Mosley recorded his first ECHL point with a goal to break the scoreless tie on the power play. Riley McCourt got his 4^th power play assist of the weekend on the goal, and Johnny Waldron got his fifth point in as many games with the Walleye with an assist on the goal at the 11:44 mark of the second period. 

Toledo went on their second power play of the night with a tripping call on Komets captain Alex Aleardi at the 17:00 mark of the second period. Johnny Waldron scored on that power play, his 4^th of the season and second point of the night to put Toledo up 2-0 at the 18:37 mark of the second. Sam Craggs and Mitch Lewandowski got the assists on the goal. 

As the second period ended, Colin Swoyer took a penalty for a hook, giving Fort Wayne their third chance at the power play to start off the third period with Toledo leading 2-0. The Walleye killed off the penalty without allowing Fort Wayne to get a shot on net. 

Blake Murray got the Komets on the board, though, scoring his 17^th goal on the season on a pass in front of the net at the 4:49 mark of the third to the Walleye lead to one. Jalen Smereck followed it up with a goal less than a minute later, his 8^th of the season to tie the game at two. 

Austin Magera scored to take the lead for the Komets, recording his 21^st goal of the season at the 7:59 mark of the third period to put Fort Wayne up 3-2. Nick Andrews took a slashing penalty, putting Fort Wayne on the power play for the 4^th time tonight, killing this one off too for their 4^th kill of the night. Toledo pulled Carter Gylander with about 2:30 left to go in regulation, and Mitch Lewandowski tipped the puck in to tie the game at 3 with 2:11 to go for his 6^th goal of the season. Dylan Moulton got the lone assist on the game-tying goal that sent the game to overtime. 

Matt Copponi took a holding penalty 1:07 into overtime, giving the Walleye a critical advantage in the extra period. Just before the end of the hooking penalty, Colin Swoyer took an interference call 3:06 in, giving Fort Wayne the same chance that Toledo. Fort Wayne capitalized as Blake Murray scored his second goal of the night, this time for the overtime winner on the power play. 

Local 245 Three Stars:

1 – F Blake Murray, FW (GWG, 2 G)

2 – F Mitch Lewandowski, TOL (1 G, 1 A)

3 – F Austin Magera, FW (1 G)

What’s Next:

The Walleye will head off to Trois-Rivières to avenge their loss in the Kelly Cup Finals last season, facing off against a Lions team that currently places 6^th in the North Division, currently sitting at 21-20-1-3. The first game of a three-game series at the Colisée Videotron is set for Friday at 7:00 PM.