Evansville’s quick start leads to Walleye defeat

12/19/2013

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The Walleye yielded two goals in each of the first two periods and then surrendered three more in the third in a lopsided loss to Evansville on Wednesday night.

Toledo scored three times in the third period but the IceMen cruised to a 7-3 victory.

Forward Travis Novak scored two goals and Kyle Rogers had the other for the Walleye (7-12-3). Evansville (13-7-3) outshot the Walleye 35-29.

Toledo goalie Hannu Toivonen (2-4-0), who made his fourth straight start, gave up seven goals on 35 shots.

The Walleye were down 5-0 before Novak scored his first on assists from Kevin Lynch and Scott Arnold. Novak, who leads Toledo with 18 points, scored again a little more than four minutes later as Joe Gleason and Alden Hirschfeld had the assists.

Both of Novak's goals, his sixth and seventh of the season, were scored on the power play. Evansville answered 18 seconds later to go up 6-2.

Rogers scored his fifth goal of the season late in the contest on assists from Max Nicastro and Martin Frk.

Evansville scored 1:14 into the game as Daultan Leveille scored the first of his two goals. The IceMen then made it 2-0 midway through the first when Tristen King wristed a shot over the blocker of Toivonen.

“It was a tough start,” Walleye coach Nick Vitucci said. “You can’t fall behind night in and night out in this league and win consistently. We need to find a way to get off to better starts and play some with the lead.”

UP TO NHL: Former Walleye G Carter Hutton, who plays for Nashville, earned the NHL's third star of the week on Monday. Hutton, who played for Toledo in 14 games in 2011-12, has appeared in 14 NHL games this season. Another former Walleye goalie, Kent Simpson, made his NHL debut with Chicago on Saturday. He gave up a goal on the first shot he faced and finished with five saves.