KALAMAZOO, MI – The Greenville Road Warriors took down the Kalamazoo Wings 6-2 on Friday night to win their third straight game on their northern road trip. The win improved Greenville’s record to 12-5-1 on the season.
Not wanting to play catch up for the third night in a row, the Road Warriors grabbed a 1-0 lead before the first period was three minutes old. Jimmy Kilpatrick turned off the far wall and whipped a shot past Ryan Nie at 2:57 for his third goal of the season. Kalamazoo came back with two goals to grab a 2-1 lead. Andrew Fournier scored on a partial breakaway then Jordan Fulton tipped a Kory Karlander shot past Brian Stewart for a power play goal at 11:10. Not wasting any time, the Road Warriors tied the game 28 seconds later with Mark Voakes’ sixth goal of the season. The first ended with the score tied at two, and Kalamazoo would not get any closer.
Greenville ripped off three second period goals, two from Igor Gongalsky, to take a 5-2 lead into the third period. Gongalsky’s first came at 11:19 after Greenville survived an early surge by the Wings. Brendan Connolly extended his point streak to 10 games with the primary assist as Gongalsky jammed it past Nie from the edge of the crease. Julien Brouillette made it 4-2 with his eighth of the season while the Road Warriors were working on a 4-on-3 power play. With 16:03 gone by in the second Gongalsky shoveled another puck past Nie with Connor Shields and Brouillette picking up the assists. Stewart made 15 saves in the period to help the Road Warriors take the commanding lead.
The third period was relatively tame when it came to goal scoring, but not when it came to the fisticuffs. Four different fights broke out involving Brandon Wong, Igor Gongalsky, T.J. Reynolds, and Connor Shields resulting in the Road Warriors racking up 52 minutes of penalty time. Just before the Road Warriors had to deal with the pesky Wings dropping their mitts, Jimmy Kilpatrick potted a power play goal at 11:26 to add some insurance for the Road Warriors’ cause.
Stewart turned in 33 saves in picking up his second win of the season while the Road Warriors were 2-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors are back on home ice to take on the Gwinnett Gladiators at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday, December 2. It will be another Dollar Drink Thursday with select fountain drinks and draught beers on sale for just $1! There are great group seats still available for you and your group of 10 or more. Call 864-674-PUCK to find out how you can save on the box office price, receive preferred seating based on availability, and much more.
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