Toledo, OH - The Toledo Walleye brought home the victory in their Home Opener versus rival Fort Wayne Komets 6-4. Funk and Preston continued their early season charge, scoring a goal each, and Chris Terry picked up his first ECHL goal of his career.
Here's how it happened:
In their first home game of the season in front of a sell-out crowd, Toledo wasted no time getting ahead early. #22 Reilly Funk broke the Walleye's seven-game drought without an opening goal, putting Toledo up early in the first. As they approached the final minutes of the period, Funk received a 5 minute major and a 10 minute game misconduct, alongside the Komets own roughing penalty. Fort Wayne capitalized and scored their first, closing the period 1-1.
Undeterred, the Walleye once again jumped ahead with a goal by #43 Quinn Preston and assist from Lewandowski and Andrews. After a hooking penalty by the Komets, #7 Sam Craggs slammed another puck home to put the Walleye up 3-1, with assists by #67 Mitch Lewandowski and #51 Garrett Van Wyhe.
2 minutes later #25 Chris Terry joined the party, scoring his first ECHL goal and widening the gap to put Toledo up by 3, their third straight goal of the second period. Fort Wayne snagged a pair of goals at 8:54 and 10:10, and closed the period at 4-3.
The Komets opened the period with an early penalty but denied the Walleye a score. They would tack on a second penalty just past the halfway mark in the third period, and #16 Brandon Hawkins took advantage to put Toledo ahead by 2 once again. The Komets found the goal after a penalty by Toledo, but #67 Mitch Lewandowski scored on an empty net to close the game 6-4.
Local 245 Three Stars:
1. TOL - B. Hawkins
2. FW - H. Johannes
3. TOL - Q. Preston
The Walleye will travel back to WesBanco Arena to face off against the Wheeling Nailers on Nov 13 at 7:10pm in the first game of their triple header series. You can catch the game LIVE on FloHockey or listen at 1230 The Gambler.
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