There are 12 games left in the Cincinnati Cyclones regular season, and they remain right in the playoff Race. They begin their eight-game road trip tonight at the Iowa Heartlanders – this trip will take them further out west after this weekend for three games against the Tahoe Knight Monsters.
Cincinnati enters the night two points out of fourth place in the Central Division. They have a game in hand on Bloomington and are tied with Kalamazoo at 62 points – both Kalamazoo and Bloomington hold the tiebreaker over Cincinnati, meaning the Cyclones cannot finish tied for fourth with either team. Cincinnati does not play Bloomington again, but they have three more games against Kalamazoo. The final three games of the regular season will be against the K Wings.
Last weekend brought two tough home losses against Fort Wayne. The Cyclones lost 3-2 on both Friday and Saturday. Friday’s game ended in overtime, and Saturday’s in regulation. Cincinnati held leads in both games before the Komets came back to win.
Head coach Riley Weselowski said the group can take both positives and lessons from the weekend.
“I think it is twofold. It shows that we are right there and that we can play with anybody in this league. At the same time, we are at a point in the season and in the standings where points are extremely important. Closing out games like that matters. There were a lot of positives, and as a staff and as a team we have to focus on those and build off them.
It is also important to acknowledge that we have to close those games out. We had leads, and both nights followed the same recipe. We took penalties and could not get the job done on the penalty kill. We had chances on the power play to go up by two in the third and did not capitalize. That is the difference right now between being a good team and a great team. It is learning how to finish games.”
Cincinnati saw Iowa two weekends ago and took both games at home. The Heartlanders have an 83% penalty kill on the season, which has been a strength, but their power play has struggled at 16%. Their leading scorers are Matthew Sop and Jaxson Nelson, who are tied for the team lead with 32 points.
Cyclones netminder Kaidan Mbereko made a solid start last Saturday, stopping 24 of 27 shots in the loss to Fort Wayne. Ken Appleby enters the weekend with an 18-12-1-0 record along with a 2.99 goals against average and a .901 save percentage. Weselowski said the staff has not finalized the rotation for the weekend.
“We are not sure yet. We have two goalies on the trip, Ken Appleby and Kaidan Mbereko. Both will play, but the exact rotation is not set yet.”
Scoreboard Watching
For scoreboard watchers this weekend, Kalamazoo is at Adirondack for a three-in-three. The Thunder are third in the North Division and have had a strong season with a 34-18-7-1 record.
Indy plays a three in three at three different arenas. They are at Toledo on Friday, at Fort Wayne on Saturday, and then home against Fort Wayne on Sunday.
Bloomington is at Fort Wayne on Friday, then at Toledo on Saturday and Sunday. All the teams Cincinnati would like to see lose are facing top competition in their divisions.
Roster News
Forward Jordan Kaplan was released earlier in the week. Kaplan recorded seven points with Cincinnati, scoring two goals and adding five assists in 25 games. The move likely opened forward space ahead of leading scorer Ryan Kirwan returning from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies on Friday. Kirwan leads the Cyclones with 48 points in 48 games with 21 goals and 27 assists and is available for tonight’s game.
Cincinnati acquired Kaplan on December 30 in a trade with Wheeling. He has since been claimed off waivers by Worcester.
Puck drops this weekend are as scheduled: 8:00 PM ET (Friday), 7:00 PM ET (Saturday), and 4:00 PM ET (Sunday).
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