Toledo, OH – The Toledo Walleye defeated the Bloomington Bison tonight by a score of 4-2 at the Huntington Center with three unanswered goals in the third period. Garrett Van Wyhe scored in his first game with the Walleye since being acquired from Jacksonville, Tanner Palocsik scored his first goal of the season, and Johnny Waldron scored the game-winning goal with just over four minutes to go in the third. 

How it Happened:

Things were quiet on the scoresheet until Toledo got the game’s first power play, a high-sticking call against Parker Gavlas at the 14:46 mark of the first period. Bloomington killed that penalty off and went on a power play of their own as a result of a tripping call on Denis Smirnov with 1:29 to go in the first. Bloomington had 31 seconds to go on their power play as the first period ended in a 0-0 tie. 

Shortly after Smirnov’s penalty expired, Garrett Van Wyhe got the Walleye on the board with his 9^th goal of the season in his first with the Walleye in his first game with Toledo 46 seconds into the second period. Sam Craggs and Nick Andrews got the assists on the goal that put the Walleye up 1-0. 

Toledo went to the penalty kill soon after as Tanner Palocsik took an unsportsmanlike conduct minor at the 2:02 mark of the second. Will MacKinnon took a slashing call in front of Toledo’s net, putting Bloomington on a 5-on-3 advantage for 19 seconds 3:44 into the second. Palocsik’s penalty expired without harm, but Bloomington scored with 9 seconds to go, scored by Mark Kaleinkovas at the 5:35 mark of the second. 

Toledo went on a power play again as Michael Robidoux tripped Tanner Palocsik in the Bloomington zone at the 5:52 mark of the second. Bloomington killed off the penalty for their second kill of the night and added another goal off the stick of Sullivan Mack to go up 2-1 at the 10:14 mark of the second. 

Tanner Dickinson took a slashing call, Toledo’s third penalty of the night. The Walleye killed it off and went on a power play with 52 seconds to go in the second as Chris Ortiz delivered a cross-check to Brandon Kruse after the whistle. 1:07 of the penalty remained as the Walleye trailed 2-1 at the end of the second period. 

Tanner Palocsik tied the game back up with his first goal of the season 3:38 into the third period, putting the momentum of the game back on Toledo’s side. Assists on the goal that tied the game 2-2 went to Tanner Dickinson and Will MacKinnon.

Denis Smirnov took a high-sticking call at the 5:11 mark of the third, putting Bloomington on their fourth power play of the day. Toledo killed the penalty off and got a couple of shorthanded chances in the process. 

Johnny Waldron picked up a loose puck in front of the net and buried it for the Walleye to take the 3-2 lead, scoring his fifth goal of the season at the 15:22 mark of the third period. Conlan Keenan and Nate Roy were credited with the assists on the goal. 

Bloomington pulled their goalie for the extra attacker with 2:00 to go in favor of the extra attacker. Tanner Kelly scored on the empty net, putting Toledo up 4-2 with 1:30 to go in the third and add insurance. Mitch Lewandowski got the assist on the empty-net goal as the Walleye held on for the 4-2 win. 

Local 245 Three Stars:

1 – F Johnny Waldron, TOL (GWG)

2 – D Tanner Palocsik, TOL (1 G)

3 – F Garrett Van Wyhe, TOL (1 G)

What’s Next:

The Walleye face off against the Bison again tomorrow at the Huntington Center, looking to carry the momentum from the end of tonight’s game into the rematch tomorrow. Puck drop for the Saturday night faceoff is set for 7:15 PM.