The Toledo Walleye will play the Cincinnati Cyclones in the second round of the ECHL playoffs.
The Walleye swept the Indy Fuel four games to none in the first round to advance. Cincinnati wrapped up its series against Fort Wayne with a win in Game 7 Wednesday.
The Walleye and Cyclones will meet in Game 1 of the ECHL Central Division finals on Friday at Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati.
Cincinnati placed first in the Central Division in the regular season, finishing with a 47-16-9 record for 103 points to earn home-ice advantage in the first two rounds.
Toledo finished second in the division with a 45-19-8 record for 98 points. The Walleye had home-ice advantage in the first round and defeated the third-place Fuel by a combined score of 17-7 to advance to the second round.
Cincinnati won the first two games at home against the Komets to take a 2-0 series lead before dropping Game 3 in Fort Wayne. The Cyclones then won Game 4 to go up 3-1. But the Komets then won the next two games to force a Game 7 on Wednesday.
The Walleye went 5-4-2 against Cincinnati during the regular season.
Toledo posted a 3-3-0 record at home and went 2-1-2 on the road against the Cyclones.
In their last meeting, the Walleye defeated the Cyclones 4-1 on April 7 at the Huntington Center with Andrew Sturtz scoring the game-winner and goalie Sebastian Cossa earning the win with 33 saves.
Gordie Green, Brandon Hawkins, Trenton Bliss, and Sam Craggs also scored game-winners for the Walleye against Cincinnati.
Goalie John Lethemon went 3-0-1 against the Cyclones, while Cossa was 2-4-1.
Cincinnati goalie Beck Warm went 5-2-0 against Toledo, while Mark Sinclair was 1-1-2. Cyclones forward Josh Passolt has two game-winning goals, while Zach Andrusiak, Patrick Polino, and Yushiroh Hirano each have one game-winning goal in the head-to-head meetings.
The Walleye are 3-1-1 against Cincinnati in the last five meetings.
The organizations have met three other times in the postseason with the Walleye winning two of the series.
The teams met in the 2022 playoffs and the series went seven games. Toledo won the Central Division semifinals 4 games to 3.
In 2019, Toledo defeated Cincinnati in the Central Division finals 4 games to 1. In 2013, the Cyclones eliminated the Walleye in the first round (4 games to 2).
The Central Division finals will be a best-of-7 and follow a 2-3-2 format.
Here's a look at the schedule:
■ Game 1 at Cincinnati, Friday, May 5, 7:35 p.m.
■ Game 2 at Cincinnati, Saturday, May 6, 7:35 p.m.
■ Game 3 vs. Cincinnati, Wednesday, May 10, 7:15 p.m.
■ Game 4 vs. Cincinnati, Friday, May 12, 7:15 p.m.
■ Game 5 vs. Cincinnati, Saturday, May 13, 7:15 p.m.
■ Game 6 at Cincinnati, Tuesday, May 16, 7:35 p.m.
■ Game 7 at Cincinnati, Wednesday, May 17, 7:35 p.m.
First Published May 4, 2023, 2:29 a.m.
