TOLEDO, OH – John Lethemon stopped all 25 shots he faced as the Toledo Walleye defeated the Wichita Thunder on Saturday, 5-0. Kirill Tyutyayev scored a goal and added two assists and Drew Worrad and Brett McKenzie each had two points for the Walleye. The loss was the third in a row for Wichita.

Toledo took the lead 13:18 into the contest. Former Thunder Riley McCourt fired a shot that hit off the back of Worrad before landing on the ice. That is where Tyutyayev scooped it up, firing a wrist shot through the legs of Eric Dop to make it 1-0.

In the second, the Walleye blew this game open, scoring three goals in the span of five minutes. The first came at 12:40 when Simon Denis scored his first goal of the season. Conlan Keenan won the draw back to Worrad who quickly fed it across to Denis. He blasted a slap shot that beat the Wichita netminder to put Toledo up by two.

At 14:20, the Walleye extended the lead to three. Joseph Nardi that Andrew Sturtz redirected into the bottom corner for his 17th tally of the year.

The Walleye continued to pour it on as McKenzie scored at 17:37 to extend the lead to four. This time it was another lucky deflection that helped to give Toledo the goal, as Brandon Hawkins fired a shot that deflected off McKenzie’s skate and in.

The power-play goal was the first of two with the man advantage for the Walleye on the evening. Gordie Green added the second power-play goal when he scored with 2:37 left in the contest. The former Thunder forward drilled a one-timer past Dop for his 22nd goal of the season.

Dop finished with 34 saves.

These two teams will square off again on Sunday. The puck drops at 4:15 Wichita time.

Gamesheet

by Robert Pannier