The Cincinnati Cyclones picked up two important points on Sunday over the Kalamazoo Wings, winning 4-1. This improved their record to 6-5-0 after playing a grueling four games in five nights.
After the game, Cyclones head coach Riley Weselowski touched on how important it was to pick up their fourth point of the weekend.
“I mean, important for sure. And that’s tough. Four games in five nights has so many challenges to it physically and mentally. One of the things I’m probably most proud of the guys for is that we were comfortable playing in a game that was pretty neutral after that point in the second period, and we never really gave up that second goal that ends up with us chasing the game. That gave us an opportunity in the third period where we could come out and have that period that we did, which is arguably one of our best periods. The first period of Saturday’s game and then the third period tonight were our two best periods in here.”
Four different skaters scored for the Cyclones: Sam Stevens, Gunnar Fontaine, Aaron Bohlinger, and Lincoln Griffin. Kyle McClellan stopped 31 of 32 shots in what was his best game of the season up to this point.
Related: Q&A with Cincinnati Cyclones Head Coach Riley Weselowski
Scoring the lone Kalamazoo Wings’ goal and the first of the game was Hunter Strand, while netminder Jonathan Lemieux stopped 26 of 29 shots. He remains winless on the season, now at 0-4-0.
Game Recap
It was a slow-paced and sloppy first period from both sides, with very few shots on goal. With 30 seconds left in the period, the Strand cleaned up a puck in the blue paint to make it 1-0 Wings. It was Strand’s third goal of the season.
The period ended with just 14 shots total: three from the Cyclones and 11 from the Wings.
Opening up the second period, Stevens answered back for the Cyclones, for his first goal after being sent down from the AHL last week. It was his first goal as a Cyclone to even it up at 1-1.
Through 40 minutes of play, the Wings had more than double the number of Cyclones’ shots, at a 27-11 margin.
Off a faceoff 39 seconds into the third period, Fontaine ripped a shot through Lemieux’s five-hole for the 2-1 lead.
Bohlinger later scored his first goal of the season off his own rebound in front to extend the lead to 3-1 with under ten minutes left in regulation.
Griffin later iced the game on an empty-netter for the 4-1 win.
Weselowski also spoke about the differences between the first two periods and the third, after being outshot 27-11 through 40 minutes.
“Well, I mean, we were getting them to the goal. Even though we only had 11 shots in the first two, we had some good chances. We just were not getting the puck on net. With a group like ours, where our guys are shooting for corners and shooting to score all the time, maybe the sights are just off a little bit. So I did not hate our first two periods, but again, they were just neutral periods. In four games in five days, you have to be comfortable in those periods. I think our guys did a good job of being comfortable in that and then getting the job done there.”
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