TOLEDO, Ohio – A late third period comeback fell just short as the Cincinnati Cyclones (12-5-2-0) were unable to tie the game in the final minute as the Toledo Walleye (13-7-0-1) survived by a 4-3 score in front of 6,153 at Huntington Center on Saturday night.
The Walleye raced out to a 2-0 lead as Travis Novak and Terry Broadhurst each scored goals in the first six minutes, beating Cyclones goaltender Magnus Hellberg (L, 34 saves, 1-1-0). Cincinnati got on the board with a power play goal from Mathieu Aubin when he sniped a shot past Walleye net minder Kent Simpson (W, 16 saves, 5-5-0-1) at the 13:24 mark to cut the Cyclones deficit to one. The score remained in favor of Toledo at 2-1 as the teams skated into the first intermission.
Toledo added to their cushion in the middle stanza; at the 9:15 mark, Andrej Nestrasil caught a pass from Kyle Rogers in the right circle and slammed in his seventh goal of the year, making it 3-1 Walleye. Then, at 18:01, Luke Glendening rushed up ice and fired a snap shot over Hellberg’s left shoulder to push the home team ahead 4-1 after 40 minutes.
The Cyclones made it a game of things in the final frame as Josh Shalla buried his team-leading ninth goal of the season at the 2:39 mark, pulling his team to within a pair. Then, at 10:52, Mattias Lindstrom crashed the Toledo net and batted in his third goal of 2012-13 through the legs of Simpson – making it a 4-3 game. Cincinnati pulled Hellberg in the final minute in an attempt to tie it with the extra attacker, however, Shalla’s late rush into the Walleye zone was denied and Toledo survived by the 4-3 final score.
The Cyclones Radio Network Stars of the Game are as follows:
First Star: Andrej Nestrasil (1 goal, 1 assist for Toledo)
Second Star: Terry Broadhurst (1 goal, 1 assist for Toledo)
Third Star: Luke Glendening (1 goal , 1 assist for Toledo)
The Cyclones will return to the ice at U.S. Bank Arena on Wednesday, December 5 when the Evansville IceMen return to downtown Cincinnati for a 7:30pm opening face-off! It
