The Toledo Walleye were hoping to take full advantage of home ice by grabbing a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Kelly Cup Finals series [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/walleye-take-game-1-over-trois-rivieres-in-defensive-struggle]against the Trois-Rivieres Lions before it shifted to Quebec. The Lions, who came into Game 2 7-2 on the road during the post-season, proved why they are not intimidated by a raucous road crowd. Five different skaters lit the lamp in a 5-1 victory, tying up the series 1-1 in front of another sellout crowd at the Huntington Center. Walleye head coach Pat Mikesch was blunt about what went wrong for his team. “The puck management in the first half of the game was just sloppy,” Mikesch said after the game. “The goals against in the third period were mental errors. There’s a lot of areas where we could improve, but this group knows how to respond.” Monday’s contest started in much the same fashion as Game 1. Toledo came out aggressive early in the first period, causing a couple of turnovers and getting four shots on Lions netminder Luke Cavallin, who has started every game this post-season. The Lions, however, weathered the early storm. Trois-Rivieres also had several high-quality chances, and it was Tyler Hylland who finally cashed in to put the Lions ahead 1-0 at the 7:31 mark. It was Hylland’s second goal of the Finals and increased his goal streak to six games. Chris Jandric went to the sin bin for cross-checking just over eight minutes in, putting the Walleye on the power play. The Lions, who gave up two goals on the penalty-kill in Game 1, effectively killed off this infraction. Shortly after, Tyler Spezia found the twine at the 11:36 mark on a nice backdoor pass from Trenton Bliss to tie the game at 1-1. It was Spezia’s sixth goal of the playoffs. Trois-Rivieres went on its first power play with less than two minutes left in the opening period, and Nicolas Guay put them ahead on a shot past the blocker of Walleye goalie Carter Gylander. The Lions, who outshot Toledo 12-9, took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The two teams traded power-play opportunities in the second period, but the frame completely belonged to the Lions, who had 10 of the first 11 shots on goal. After Toledo’s Colin Swoyer got called for high-sticking, Jakov Novak took a give-and-go pass from Alex Beaucage and fired one into the back of the net with six minutes left in the frame for a 3-1 Lions lead heading into the third. Trois-Rivieres came into Monday night 8-1 when leading after 40 minutes, compared to the Walleye’s 0-3 mark when trailing after two periods. The Lions kept that history on their side. Justin Ducharme silenced the Toledo crowd, scoring on a breakaway less than six minutes into the third period, shooting it past Gylander’s blocker side for a 4-1 Trois-Rivieres advantage. Kyle Havlena put the icing on the cake with a shot glove side for the Lions’ fourth unanswered goal of the game, sealing the 5-1 victory and tying the series 1-1. Game 2 winners are 186-83 all-time in ECHL best-of-seven series, including 24-10 in the 34 best-of-seven Riley/Kelly Cup Finals series. The Walleye will now be heading into foreign territory, literally and figuratively. The next three games will be at Colisee Videotron in Trois-Rivieres, a place Toledo has never been. It will also be a short turnaround, with three games over a four-day span. This isn’t the first time the Walleye have needed to respond on the road following a home loss this post-season. They faced a similar situation in their Central Division Finals against the Fort Wayne Komets, and came through. “The good thing is, we’re traveling right away,” Mikesch said. “We get ourselves up there (to Trois-Rivieres) and we get to go right back at it in another day and a half. So it’s (important to) get ourselves ready.” Game 3 will take place Wednesday night, with puck drop scheduled for 7 Pm ET. Photo Courtesy of the Trois-Rivieres Lions.
