TOLEDO, OH - Jake Willets nets one in his first professional game as the Walleye fell to the Reading Royals 4-2 on Friday night at the Huntington Center.
What Happened:
The visitors struck first at 4:40 of the first period from one-time Toledo Walleye forward Devon Paliani. The Walleye would counter on the first professional goal from Jake Willits at 18:45 of the first when his shot from the blue line found the back of the net.
After two periods of the play the game was even at one with Toledo owning a massive shot advantage of 30-13 but former Walleye netminder Pat Nagle closed the door on Toledo. Reading scored back-to-back goals at 7:06 and 9:24 of the third period to open up a 3-1 lead.
Brandon Hawkins would fire in a power play goal at 13:40 of the third period to close the gap to 3-2 but Paliani’s second goal of the night at 15:13 of the final frame ended the scoring. Hawkins goal kept alive his Walleye record 16 consecutive game point streak, a Toledo Walleye record.
Notes:
Toledo’s 18-game win and 20-game unbeaten in regulation streaks each came to close. The 18 consecutive wins is the longest streak in Toledo professional hockey history and the second longest in the ECHL history. The loss also snapped Toledo’s 8-game home winning streak and dropped the Walleye home record to 15-10-3. Brandon Hawkins’ goal in the third period was his 34th on the season, just two away from tying Kyle Bonis’s Walleye record of 36 set in the 2014-2015 season.
Up Next:
Toledo returns to the Huntington Center on Saturday to face the Greenville Swamp Rabbits for the first time this season. Puck drop is 7:15 p.m.
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