Storm turns offense loose, trims Dayton

Dayton's Justin Maiser scores on Toledo goalie Mike Brodeur early last night before 5,069 fans at the Sports Arena.

The Toledo Storm opened it up early offensively with five goals in the first two periods and then hung on for a 5-3 triumph over Dayton last night.

Matt Zultek, Nick Parillo and Chris Blight scored first-period goals to help send Toledo to its second straight victory before a crowd of 5,069 at the Sports Arena.

Jason Maleyko and Ken Magowan added power-play goals in the second to make it 5-1. But Dayton tallied two goals over the first 3:43 of the third period to make it a tight victory.

Goalie Mike Brodeur made 32 stops and improved to 4-2-0 this season.

The Storm played well in its end for the second straight night over the first two periods, allowing just 16 shots on goal.

Toledo (18-17-1) has scored five goals in six games this season. The team scored five on its first 21 shots to take a four-goal cushion after two periods. Dayton (18-11-4) had just 12 shots midway through the contest.

Zultek got the Storm going before the crowd even settled in. Zultek tipped a shot from the point by Dan Watson just 2:32 into the game. Zultek's perfect deflection resulted in his team-high 30th point of the season.

Parillo added to the early lead with a goal from an impossible angle. Parillo was stationed by the side of the net when his shot deflected off of goalie Adam Berkhoel's arm and went in the net.

Toledo came out with plenty of jump, scoring on two of its first five shots over the first half of the opening period.

Dayton broke through with 3:47 to go in the first period on Justin Maiser's goal that cut it to 2-1.

Evan McGrath, a highly touted rookie, set up the Storm's third goal with a beautiful backhand pass. McGrath showed incredible patience before dishing the puck in front of the Dayton net to Blight who scored with 39 seconds to go in the first period.

The goal came during a 4-on-4 situation and just one second before Dayton went on a power play.

Blight, who had a season-high three points with a goal and two assists on Friday, had a goal and an assist and has 21 points this season.

Toledo seized control in the second on defenseman Jason Maleyko's power-play goal. Maleyko scored on a shot from the point to make it 4-1 at the 12:37 mark of the second period.

Magowan then collected his team-high 14th goal of the season with 1:30 to go in the middle period. Magowan's power-play goal came off of a rebound and put the Storm up by four.

Brodeur made a key save late in the second period on a breakaway caused by a bad bounce that went right to Maiser.