The Bloomington Bison allowed a pair of final minute goals to lose to the Wheeling Nailers by a 2-1 score on Saturday night at the WesBanco Arena.
The first period saw no scoring and only one penalty which the Bison killed. Bloomington outshot Wheeling by a 10-5 margin.
The second frame saw much more excitement that included a fight three minutes in. Bison forward Max Neill dropped the gloves with Chris Ortiz. The Bison were dinged with three infractions during the period but successfully killed each one. During a kill late in the period, Bison captain Eddie Matsushima drove to the net and potted his first of the season on his own rebound. Gavin Gould and Jake Murray assisted to give the Bison a 1-0 lead heading into the final period.
The third period maintained the same score until penalty problems haunted the Bison in the closing minutes. Bryce Montgomery was whistled on a delay of game penalty that Wheeling capitalized on. Atley Calvert scored on the power play for his first of the season to tie the game. Kyle Jackson and Ortiz assisted on the goal with 28 seconds remaining. Matthew Quercia scored 15 seconds later to elevate the Nailers over the Bison. David Jankowski assisted on the goal to finalize the score 2-1.
Bison netminder Hugo Ollas stopped 27 of 29 shots in the loss. Jaxon Castor earned the win with 24 saves. The Nailers outshot the Bison 29-25. Bloomington didn’t score on their lone power play and killed four of five penalties.
The Bison return to the Grossinger Motors Arena at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 8th against the Kalamazoo Wings. Join us for Military Appreciation Night featuring specialty jerseys worn by the players and a live auction following the game. For more information on tickets visit bloomingtonhockey.com, ticketmaster.com or call (309) 965-HERD. To receive all the latest Bison news, sign up for the newsletter on the Bison webpage.
