The Toledo Walleye opened their home schedule in style Saturday night, Nov. 7, beating the rival Fort Wayne Komets 6-4 in the home opener before a sellout crowd, according to the team’s official game story.
Reilly Funk got Toledo going early, breaking what the Walleye described as a seven-game drought without an opening goal by scoring first in the opening period. Funk’s night ended early, though — he drew a five-minute major and a game misconduct late in the period, and Fort Wayne capitalized to tie the game 1-1 after one.
Toledo answered with a three-goal burst in the second period. Quinn Preston put the Walleye back in front with help from Mitch Lewandowski and Nick Andrews, Sam Craggs followed with a power-play goal off assists from Lewandowski and Garrett Van Wyhe, and Chris Terry scored his first ECHL goal to stretch the lead to 4-1, the team reported.
Fort Wayne refused to fold. The Komets scored twice in the second period, at 8:54 and 10:10, to cut the margin to 4-3, then kept pressing into the third as Toledo’s penalty trouble gave them openings, according to the Walleye game story.
A sellout for the home opener is nothing new in Toledo, where the Walleye have built one of the ECHL’s strongest home-ice followings, and Saturday’s crowd got a show worthy of the occasion — seven goals between the teams’ combined outburst in the middle periods alone, plus a major penalty, a misconduct and an empty-net finish against the club’s oldest rival.
Brandon Hawkins restored the two-goal cushion in the third period, converting during a Komets penalty to make it 5-3. Fort Wayne answered once more after a Toledo penalty, but Lewandowski closed it out with an empty-net goal for the 6-4 final. Hawkins was named the game’s first star and Preston the third star.
The win continued a strong early run of form for the Walleye’s scoring leaders — Funk and Preston have each scored in bunches during the opening weeks, and Lewandowski factored in three goals Saturday between his assists and the empty-netter.
Toledo now heads back out on the road. The Walleye travel to WesBanco Arena to face the Wheeling Nailers on Friday, Nov. 13, at 7:10 p.m., the first game of a three-game series, according to the team. Fans can watch on FloHockey or listen on 1230 The Gambler.
Photo: Joel Washing, CC BY