Jones’s five-point night sparks K-Wings to win

Starting the season with the Worcester Sharks of the American Hockey League, Matt Jones has seen his fair share of travel so far this season. Returning last week to the Kalamazoo Wings for the second time in just over a month, Jones’s return could not have come at a better time.

Jones scored four goals and added an assist Saturday night as the K-Wings trounced the Toledo Walleye by a score of 7-3.

“Going back and forth from Kalamazoo and Worcester has been a pretty smooth transition as the systems are pretty much the same,” Jones said. “It’s good to see both teams being very successful this year and something I am proud to be a part of.”

In Friday nights contest, the K-Wings lost 5-4 in overtime to the Walleye.

Snapping a four-game road losing streak, the victory by the K-Wings was the first over the Walleye in four games this season.

Jones put the K-Wings on the board with two goals in the first period with one of those goals being scored on the power play to give the K-Wings a 2-0 lead.

Hitting the scoreboard in the second, Justin Hodgman and J.C. Sawyer scored for the Walleye just 29 seconds apart to knot the game at 2-2.

Putting the K-Wings up 3-2, Jones scored his third of the night good for the hat trick, which was the first of the season for the K-Wings.

While Maxime Tanguary scored the equalizer for the Walleye, it was Jones scoring his fourth of the evening to put the K-Wings up 4-3 just 13 seconds after the Tanguary goal.

Jones credited his teammates for his goal scoring frenzy.

“The team was playing really well and deserved the win that night,” Jones said. “My line mates were working hard and finding me in the right position and everything I shot seemed to go in.”

Andrew Fournier capped off the period scoring his eighth of the season to give the K-Wings a 5-3 lead heading into the final period.

Putting an exclamation point on the evening, Jeff Mason scored his fourth goal of the year while Rick Cleaver added his 11th with just a second left on the clock to give the K-Wings a 7-3 win over the Walleye.

The K-Wings went 3 for7 on the power play while the Walleye were 0 for 5. Hitting their highest shot total of the season, the K-Wings racked up 49 shots compared to the Walleye’s 38.

Fireworks erupted at the 16:07 mark of the third period as there were a total of 58 minutes of penalties handed out.

With the K-Wings losing six of their last seven games, the win over the Walleye couldn’t have come at a better time according to Jones.

“The big win is just what the team needed and deserved. I think we will be able to bring this momentum into our home stretch.”

Playing their last road game of the year, the K-Wings will now finish out 2009 playing the next eight games on home ice.

Starting off the eight-game home stand on Wednesday night, the K-Wings will host the Reading Royals for a 7 pm faceoff. Every ticket for the game is priced at $3 as the K-Wings organization says “thank you” to the fans for naming the K-Wings as the best sports team in Southwest Michigan.

Tickets can be purchased by calling the Wings Stadium Ticket Office at (269) 345-5101.

For the latest news and transaction information log on to www.WLKM.com and check out the “K-Wings Blog”.