Sixth straight win moves Walleye into tie for division lead
2/9/2013GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Walleye moved into a tie for first place as they posted their sixth straight win on Thursday night.
Toledo rallied to knock off Greenville 2-1 as the Walleye tied Cincinnati for the lead in the ECHL North Division.
Andrej Nestrasil and Travis Novak scored the goals for the Walleye, who have won seven of their last eight contests.
Goalie Kent Simpson gave up a first-period goal but settled in and finished with 33 saves.
Toledo (27-17-4) now has 58 points and are 14-10-1 on the road.
Joey Martin and Byron Froese assisted on Nestrasil's goal that tied it at 1 near the game's midpoint. It was Nestrasil's 11th goal of the season.
Phil Rauch and Nino Musitelli drew the assists on Novak's game winner just 50 seconds into the third period. Novak pounced on a rebound to give Toledo the lead for good.
Greenville (29-17-4) leads the South Division with 62 points. The Road Warriors had defeated the Walleye twice this season.
“Team defense and great goaltending is why we have continued to collect wins,” Walleye coach Nick Vitucci said.
The Walleye were outshot 34-27.
Simpson (13-9-3) had 14 saves in the first, 10 in the second and nine in the third.
Toledo went 0 of 1 on the power play, while the Road Warriors were 0 of 3.
The game also featured fights between Toledo’s Erik Spady and Greenville’s Chad Ziegler and the Walleye’s Ben Woodley and the Warriors’ Jordie Reynolds.
Toledo is in the middle of a four-game road trip and next plays at South Carolina on Saturday against the Stingrays.
The team returns home for Hockey Heritage Weekend in Toledo on Friday, Feb. 16 and Saturday, Feb. 17.