The Toledo Walleye rolled up their sleeves and fought back with a flurry of second-period goals to earn their first win of the Western Conference finals on Monday night.
Toledo took Game 3 of the series 4-3 over the top-seeded Kansas City Mavericks before a charged up crowd of 7,545 at the Huntington Center.
Walleye rookie forward Riley Sawchuk scored two goals and now leads the ECHL with 10 goals in the playoffs. Defenseman Michael Prapavessis had a goal and an assist, defenseman Grant Gabriele had two assists, and forward Conlan Keenan scored the game-winner.
Toledo goaltender John Lethemon improved to 5-1 in the playoffs, finishing with 25 saves. Kansas City netminder Cale Morris had 26 stops.
The game was tied at 2 late in the second period when Toledo tallied two enormous goals 2:22 apart to take a 4-2 lead into the third period. The Walleye had given up goals late in periods in losses in Games 1 and 2.
“We got our responses tonight. It’s a huge credit to our leadership core who prepared this group,” Walleye coach Pat Mikesch said. “This season means a lot to them, and they showed up and performed extremely well tonight.”
Toledo came into the series on a 22-game winning streak but had dropped the first two games.
Sawchuk’s power-play goal gave the Walleye a 1-0 lead with 1:20 left in the first period.
“We knew we were in for a hell of a fight,” Sawchuk said. “We knew our backs were against the wall. We had another chance to play here at home, and we had to take advantage of it. When things go your way, the confidence just builds and you don’t look back.”
The series, which is following a 3-4 format, now shifts to Independence, Mo., for Game 4 on Friday at Cable Dahmer Arena.
“We know every game is going to be tough,” Mikesch said. “We’ve shown that our offense can produce against them. It’s just going in there and living by our principles.”
Kansas City tied it up at 1 on a goal by Nate Knoepke 4:50 into the second period.
The Walleye then grabbed a 2-1 lead on a goal from Prapavessis as he scored on his rebound with 7:57 left in the second.
Knoepke tied the game at 2 with 3:28 left in the second. Just 19 seconds later, however, Sawchuk scored his second for a 3-2 lead.
Toledo then added a huge tack-on goal as Keenan cashed in on a solo breakaway to make it 4-2 with 47.1 seconds left in the second. A long, up-ice feed from Gabriele sent Keenan free, and he beat Morris for a key two-goal cushion.
“It was a full team effort. Everyone dug deep,” Keenan said. “We were determined. Everyone came to work today. It’s all about confidence. And we’ve got to carry that on to the next game.”
Kansas City’s Nolan Walker scored 2:30 into the third period to cut Toledo’s lead back to one goal.
“Playoff hockey is passionate. I like to compete and play hard and sometimes you want to show your teammates you’ve got their backs,” Willms said. “It’s exciting to feel that energy from the crowd. Again here tonight, they showed up for us.”
Key Toledo forward Trenton Bliss, who has nine points in 10 games, had to be helped off the ice in the first period after having his feet taken out.
“With Bliss going down early, [Dalton] Messina stepped up,” said Mikesch, who indicated that Bliss suffered an upper-body injury and will be evaluated on Tuesday.
It looked as if Sawchuk had tallied a hat trick with 55 seconds left, but officials ruled Toledo’s Brandon Hawkins had hit the puck with a high stick to create the chance.
“I was a little embarrassed because I celebrated down the whole ice and the hats were thrown on the ice and everything,” Sawchuk said. “But we just got right back to focusing. There was still about a minute left, and we knew that we had a job to do.”
Lethemon had to be very sharp late after the Mavericks pulled Morris with 1:43 left.
“That was an incredible atmosphere,” K.C. coach Tad O’Had said. “It was so loud you couldn’t hear the whistle. That’s what we expected here. We came here for three and collected two wins. Now we got to get back and reset for Friday.”