The Cincinnati Cyclones were routed by the visiting Toledo Walleye 7-1 on Saturday night at Heritage Bank Center. With the loss, the Cyclones fell to 14-11-3-0 on the season, fourth in the Central Division. Toledo improved to 18-5-2-2, pushing further ahead in first place in the Central Division.
Related: Cyclones Shut Out 4-0 by First‑Place Walleye
Six different skaters scored for the Walleye, including Nate Roy, Conlan Keenan, Jacques Bouquot, Denis Smirnov, Jordan Ernst, and Jed Pietila. Roy scored twice, while Brandon Hawkins picked up three assists. Netminder Matt Jurusik stopped 28 of 29 shots he faced.
Ben King scored the lone goal for the Cyclones. Goaltenders Kyle McLellan and Tommy Scarfone both saw time between the pipes. McLellan stopped 1 of 4 shots he faced in the first period before Scarfone entered to begin the second, stopping 16 of 20 the rest of the way.
Game Recap
The Walleye scored on their first two shots of the game, the first coming from Nate Roy off a faceoff and the second from Keenan.
Cincinnati’s Luke Grainger later extended the Toledo lead to 3-0, putting it into his own net off a Bouquot pass. Bouquot was credited with the goal on Toledo’s fourth shot on goal of the game, which meant an alarming stat of three goals on four shots on goal.
Toledo finished the first period with just four shots on goal compared to Cincinnati’s 13 but was leading 3-0, a totally unacceptable stat for the Cyclones.
Cincinnati netminder Tommy Scarfone entered to start the second period, making that the second night in a row that saw a mid-game goalie change.
Smirnov extended the Toledo lead to 4-0 on a power play midway through the second period, putting the game out of reach for the second night in a row.
Late in the middle frame, King trimmed the Cincinnati deficit to 4-1 off a pass from Zack Trott.
Roy extended the Toledo lead to 5-1 just 17 seconds into the final period, and Ernst later made it 6-1. Roy’s goal was his second of the game.
While on a late power play, the Cyclones gave up their second shorthanded goal of the weekend, this one scored by Pietila, which made it 7-1 Toledo.
Cincinnati finished 0-for-3 on the power play for the second night in a row and went 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
The Cyclones are now off until next Friday (Jan. 9), when they visit the Fort Wayne Komets. Toledo has a quick turnaround and will face the Bloomington Bison tomorrow (Jan. 4) at 5:15 PM EST.
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