The Bloomington Bison scored a power-play goal and held on late to top the Kalamazoo Wings for their first home win.
The Bloomington Bison secured a victory over the Kalamazoo Wings with a score of 3-1 on Friday night, marking their first win at Grossinger Motors Arena this season.
Sahil Panwar initiated the scoring with a power-play goal late in the first period. Blake McLaughlin netted his first of two goals toward the end of the second period, followed by his second goal—as well as Bloomington's third—an empty-netter with just over one minute left in regulation.
Goaltender Mark Sinclair, in his seventh appearance of the season, made 21 saves on 22 shots and earned his third win.
The Bison's power play had faced challenges earlier in the season, converting only 2 of 27 opportunities (7.4%), one of the lowest rates in the ECHL.
Nevertheless, the team continued to fine-tune their strategies, and recent personnel changes on the power play paid off immediately.
On their first power-play opportunity of the game, defenseman Case McCarthy charged into the offensive zone but lost control of the puck before Kalamazoo goaltender Jonathan Lemieux poked it away.
However, Panwar, who registered four shots on goal, quickly regained possession and unleashed a shot that seemed to catch Lemieux by surprise, finding the back of the net.
The Wings' goaltending duo had allowed only six goals in five games leading up to Friday's matchup. The Bison knew it would be a significant challenge to light the lamp.
Much of the team's strategy focused on creating traffic in front of their goaltenders to disrupt their performance.
McLaughlin's first goal was a result of two Bison players positioning themselves in the low slot, allowing him to take a shot from the top of the slot while Lemieux was heavily screened, which resulted in the puck finding the net.
Bloomington will try to complete the weekend sweep with a visit to Iowa against the Heartlanders on Saturday night.
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