Five games under .500 certainly isn't where the Toledo Walleye want to be one month into the season but after putting another mark in the loss column Friday night that's exactly where they sit. The Fish fell 5-3 to the Gwinnett Gladiators at the Huntington Center to drop to 2-7-0-0 on the season.
The game started strong with Toledo's Rob Flick netting the opening score just 33 seconds after puck drop. The Walleye carried the one-goal lead through the opening period but another doomed second period quickly changed that.
While Joey Martin added a second Walleye goal, Toledo also gave up three scores to Gwinnett in the second stanza to head into the third down 3-2. Counting Friday's game, Toledo has allowed 16 goals in the second period while scoring only four this season.
On Friday against Gwinnett, those three goals were put past Walleye netminder Carter Hutton by Bryan Brutlag, Pat Galivan and Mike Bartlett. Hutton continues to carry the load for the Fish as Thomas McCollum remains called up by the Grand Rapids Griffins.
The crowd of 5,524, many decked out in patriotic gear to support the men and women of the armed forces on Military Appreciation Night for Veteran's Day, got a reason to cheer when Toledo's Adam Estoclet tied the game at three at 3:48 of the third period. Those cheers soon turned to boos however when Gwinnett came back to add game-winning goal plus an empty-netter later in the period.
Joey Haddad scored the go-ahead goal with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game. Toledo didn't give up though and showed strong pressure in the final moments. They used a timeout, got good chances and even pulled goaltender Hutton late in an attempt to score the equalizer but a late empty-net goal from Tyler Murovich put the game out of reach.
With the loss, Toledo regained sole-possession of last place in the ECHL with a .222 win percentage. They are tied in points at four with the Cincinnati Cyclones but have played nine games to Cincy's seven. The season however is still quite young, giving the Fish plenty of time to change their game and improve.
Changes are already in the works according to Coach Vitucci. Though he was unable to provide details as the move has not been officially announced by the league, he did note that he'd traded for a defenseman.
No immediate word on if that defenseman will appear in the lineup tonight as Toledo gets a rematch against Gwinnett. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. at the Huntington Center.
Comments