The Greenville Road Warriors continue their northern road trip today when they take on the Kalamazoo Wings. It is the first ever meeting between the Road Warriors and Wings and faceoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
RECAPPING THE ACTION:
11/24 – GRW 5 – WHL 4
The Road Warriors used a three-goal second period and a 3-for-7 effort on the power play to skate their way past the Wheeling Nailers last night. Casey Pierro-Zabotel put Wheeling on the board first at 5:08 of the first period by feeding a shot past a screened Brian Stewart. Greenville battled back with a pair of goals to grab the lead before the intermission. Brandon Wong punched home a rebound from Wes Cunningham at 9:30 and Julien Brouillette one-timed a power play goal home off of a nice feed from Brendan Connolly with 12 seconds left in the frame. Justin Bowers (5:33), Jimmy Kilpatrick (18:53, PP), and Marc-Olivier Vallerand (19:35, PP) tripled up the Nailers’ scoring effort in the second (Ben Street, 11:18) and took a commanding 5-2 lead into the third. Wheeling picked up goals from Andrew Lord (2:53), and David Urquhart (18:46, PP) to pull within one, but Stewart and the Road Warriors’ defense did not break. Stewart posted 24 saves in picking up his first ECHL win.
11/19 – KAL 2 – CIN 5
Kalamazoo missed out on a chance to sweep a two-game road trip in Cincinnati when it lost to the Cyclones last Friday. Rookie Jordan Fulton put the Wings up early with his fourth goal of the season 3:39 into the game. The defending champs bounced back in a big way with three goals in the second period to take the lead. Matt Pierce (7:22) and Brett Robinson (8:02) scored 40 seconds apart to break a 1-1 tie and put Cincinnati in the lead for good. Andrew Fournier pulled the Wings back within one 3:12 into the third, but Cincinnati kept its composure and received a second goal from Robinson (17:22) and an empty-net score from Dylan Hunter to salt away the win. Riley Gill took the loss in net with a 32-save performance.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR TONIGHT:
The Road Warriors will look to keep their offense in high gear against the Wings. In their last five wins the Road Warriors are averaging 4.6 goals per game, but in their last two losses they have been limited to just one goal. The Wings have given up 19 goals in their last four losses and are surrendering an average of 3.4 goals per game. With 47 goals surrendered in 14 games the Wings have the second-worst team goals-against average in the ECHL while the Road Warriors are averaging 3.7 goals per game which is second-best in the league.
In a season of firsts for the Road Warriors, they have been doing a solid job in the first meeting with a new opponent. So far this season Greenville is 3-1-0 when taking on an opponent for the first time. The lone loss was to the South Carolina Stingrays on October 24 in Greenville. One catch with that stat is that Greenville had hosted each of those new opponents at the BI-LO Center in Greenville where the Road Warriors lead the league with nine wins. They have not met an opponent for the first time on the road until tonight.
One big reason the Road Warriors have been able to build up such an impressive record through the first quarter of the season is that they have limited consecutive losses very well. There has only been one instance of back-to-back regulation losses and that was on November 6 and 7 at Gwinnett. Aside from those games the Road Warriors have not gone more than one game without picking up at least one standings point. The other time the Road Warriors lost back-to-back games was in OT to Florida on October 22 and in regulation to South Carolina on October 24. In games coming off of a loss the Road Warriors are 3-2-0 and are even in goals for/against at 21-21. Last night’s win in Wheeling kept Greenville from losing two straight. On the other side the Road Warriors have had three different streaks of at least two wins in a row.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors are back on home ice to take on the Gwinnett Gladiators at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center on Thursday, December 2. It will be another Dollar Drink Thursday with select fountain drinks and draught beers on sale for just $1! There is great group seating still available for the game. If you have a group of 10 or more you can save on the box office price, receive preferred seating based on availability, and much more by booking in advance. To speak to a Road Warriors group sales representative call 864-674-PUCK.
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