While it may only be 10 games into the ECHL season, the desperate Toledo Walleye saw a two-goal lead disappear in a tough 4-3 loss to Indy on Saturday night — as the team remained winless on home ice.
The game was tied at 3 to start the third before a capacity crowd of 7,881 at the Huntington Center.
The Walleye built a 3-1 lead at the game's midpoint on goals from Mitchell Heard, Thomas Ebbing, and Conlan Keenan. But Indy scored three unanswered goals, including two goals late in the second period to tie it at 3 heading to the third.
Indy's Nate Pionk took advantage of a missed clear by the Walleye and scored the game-winning goal with 4:38 left.
The Walleye (4-5-1) have now lost three in a row and fell to 0-4-1 at home.
“We're mentally fragile right now,” coach Dan Watson said. “When our guys are skating, playing on their toes, we look great. But as soon as there's any type of little setback or any type of adversity we're still learning as a team to use that as a challenge, to take it head on and move positively. It's more mental than anything.”
The defense, backstopped by rookie goalie Sebastian Cossa, has been good. But the offense has not. The Walleye came into the game ranked fifth in the ECHL in goals against per game (2.56). But they also ranked 26th out of 28 teams in goals scored per game (2.33).
“I think we're still battling, learning the systems, finding the chemistry,” defenseman Simon Denis said. “But when you are up by two goals, you have to win those games, especially at home. I think fans have a right to be frustrated. We haven't had a win yet on home ice and that's the place where we generally take care of business. No one's more frustrated than us in the locker room and the coaching staff. We know there's pressure on us to win and there's nothing more that we want to do. So we're gonna regroup this week. There's no doubt that the desire to win is in that locker room.”
Cossa, the Red Wings' first-round draft choice (15th overall, in the 2021 NHL draft), started his seventh straight game for the Walleye and made 18 saves.
Toledo took a 3-1 lead on a tip shot by Keenan near the midpoint of the second period. Denis set the play up with a shot from the point on Keenan's first goal of the season.
But Indy's Jan Mandat scored a power-play goal to pull the Fuel within one goal with 4:34 left in the second period.
And then Walleye's defense hung Cossa out to dry as the young netminder stopped three consecutive shots but couldn't stop the fourth. Andrew Bellant scored with just over a minute left in the second period to tie it at 3.
Heard had scored his third goal of the season to give the Walleye a 1-0 at 9:54 of the first period as he fired his shot over Indy goalie Zach Driscoll (27 saves) for an all-important early lead for an offensively struggling team.
“I think we're trending in the right way,” Heard said. “We're starting to do the right things. It's a long season. We have the right guys in there and we just need to pull in the right direction and maybe buckle down at the right times.”
Indy tied it at 1 on a tip shot by Cliff Watson with 1:55 left in the first period.
The Walleye responded just 31 seconds later when Ebbing scored on a beautifully-placed backhander. Toledo went up 2-1 with 1:24 left in the first period on Ebbing's first of the year.
The Indy Fuel improved to 7-3-1.
“We stopped playing the right way,” Watson said. “We had turnovers and it turned around and bit us. We've got some returning guys who think they should play more minutes, who should be out there in special situations. They go out there and they didn't perform.”
Toledo plays four games in five days starting with a road contest at Cincinnati on Wednesday. The Walleye then host Fort Wayne on Friday, before traveling to Fort Wayne on Saturday and to Wheeling next Sunday.
FISH TALES: Grand Rapids Griffins general manager Shawn Horcoff was in attendance along with Phil Osaer, the Red Wings head goaltending scout. … The Walleye came into the game averaging 7,042 fans per game.
First Published November 20, 2022, 3:14 a.m.
