Charleston, SC | Breaking News, Sports, WeatherStingrays beat Kalamazoo in shootout

Kalamazoo, MI – The South Carolina Stingrays (27-17-1-1) erased a two-goal deficit to defeat the Kalamazoo Wings (24-14-2-3) 4-3 in the shootout Wednesday night at Wings Stadium.

 The Stingrays jumped on the board early in the first period when forward David de Kastrozza tapped a rebound past Wings goaltender Riley Gill (L, 27 saves on 30 shots) at 1:54 from the bottom of the left-wing circle. Defenseman Nick Tabisz grabbed the lone assist.

 The Wings tied the contest on the power play at 5:03 of the second period with forward Justin Taylor's 17th goal of the season deflecting a Mike Matczak shot over the left shoulder of Stingrays netminder Billy Sauer(W, 31 saves on 34 shots). Forward Trent Daavettila added the second assist. Moments later, defenseman Elgin Reid gave the Wings a 2-1 lead at 6:46 from forwards Darryl Bootland and Taylor. Taylor quickly made it a two-goal Wings lead on the man advantage with help from Bootland and Daavettila at 12:34. The Stingrays pulled back within one at the 17:10 mark as forward Greg Stewart received a pass from winger Mike Hamilton and slipped it under the left pad of Gill from between the faceoff circles. Tabisz also earned an assist.

Stingrays defenseman Johann Kroll knotted the contest back up with a power-play marker at 2:47 of the final frame from defenseman Brett Flemming and forward Pierre-Luc O'Brien.

 O'Brien and forward Trent Campbell lit the lamp in the shootout and defenseman Derek Keller buried the game-winning goal in the bottom of the eighth round to complete the comeback. The Stingrays ended the contest 1-for-4 on the power play while the Wings went 2-for-7.