Cossa Dominates in Walleye Shutout Victory, 5-0
CORALVILLE, IA – Sebastian Cossa stopped all 23 shots he faced to record the first shutout in his professional career as the Toledo Walleye dominated the Iowa Heartlanders, 5-0. Toledo staked their netminder to a 3-0 lead coming out of the first period, and Gordie Green scored goals in both the second and third periods. Green finished with three points. Trevin Kozlowski took the loss, stopping 27 shots.
Toledo jumped out in front 4:36 of the contest when Mitchell Heard scored his 12th goal of the season and second in two nights. A great clearing pass out of the Toledo zone by Ryan Lowney sent Heard through the neutral zone and into the Iowa end. As he approached Kozlowski, he opted to shoot himself, lifting a wrist shot over the netminder’s shoulder to make it 1-0.
Less than two minutes later Brandon Hawkins extended the lead to two. Green won a battle for loose puck behind the net, dumping it out in front to Hawkins who quickly snapped a wrist shot past the glove of Kozlowski for his 13th goal of the season.
With 62 seconds left in the frame, Kiril Tyutyayev extended the lead to three with his third goal of the year. Heard won a battle for loose puck in the neutral zone, passing it to Conlan Keenan who entered the Iowa zone. As he approached the left face-off circle he passed the puck across to Tyutyayev, who drilled a wrist shot to the upper corner to make it 3-0 entering the first intermission.
The Walleye hung onto the three-goal advantage through 19 minutes of the second frame, but Green scored with 47 seconds left to extend the lead to four. With Toledo on the power-play, Hawkins fired a shot from the point that was knocked down in front, but Green scooped up the rebound and put it in for his 15th tally of the season.
With about eight minutes left in the game, Green closed out the scoring with his second goal of the contest. Green picked the pocket of a Heartlanders defenseman, then quickly moved in on Kozlowski, firing a wrist shot just inside the post to make it 5-0.
The loss was the fifth in a row for the Iowa Heartlanders (7-19-9). The team will try to snap the losing streak when they welcome the Walleye (19-14-5) on Sunday. The puck drops at 2:05.
by Robert Pannier
