Kalamazoo, Mich. – The Bloomington Bison erased two deficits in the second period but ultimately fell 5-2 to the Kalamazoo Wings at Wings Event Center on Saturday evening.

Early on, the Bison were denied an offensive zone entry and earned a powerplay on the sequence but the Wings killed it off. Less than seven minutes into the game, Mikael Robidoux was drawn in to a battle along the boards and got into a fight. After returning to play, he alerted Kalamazoo’s attention again and was assessed a roughing minor while drawing a double-minor on his assailant to give Bloomington another powerplay. Despite chances, it was also killed off, and with under two minutes left in the period, Kalamazoo took a 1-0 lead when a point shot was deflected in. The Bison would head to the second period outshooting the Wings 11-9 and came up with an important penalty kill in the first few minutes of the middle frame.

After being called for a hooking penalty that denied a breakaway shot and killing it off, Bloomington tied the game off an odd-man rush. Zak Karpa pressured a Wing at the blue line and stole the puck while Kyle Jackson joined him near center ice. Jackson then cashed in on a one-timed shot past to punctuate the two-on-zero play and tie the game at 8:26 of the second. Less than four minutes later, however, the Wings found success on the powerplay and buried a rebound to go up 2-1 at 12:12. Composure and patience paid off for Bloomington down the stretch of the stanza as Karpa drew a cross-checking penalty that set up another game-tying goal in the final minutes. Riku Ishida blasted in his sixth powerplay goal of the season, from Jackson and Shane Ott to knot the score 2-2 with 2:59 left on the clock. Forty seconds later, the Wings were called for a major charging penalty and gave the Bison a five minute powerplay that stretched into the beginning of the third, but the final three goals of the game favored Kalamazoo.

Through 40 minutes, Bloomington outshot the Wings 25-18, and the Bison scored twice on 14 shots in the second, but they’d only come out with six attempts in the third despite more powerplay time. Near the halfway point of the period, the visitors surrendered a two-on-one and allowed the tie-breaking goal at 8:02 while four-on-four. The Wings seemed to put the tight game out of reach when they went up 4-2 with three minutes and 49 seconds left and iced it with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

The Bison are back on home ice for Country Night, presented by Texas Roadhouse, when Brushville will perform a free post-game concert for all ticketed fans and the first 2,000 in the building will receive a free cowboy hat!

Single-game tickets are available for ALL Bloomington Bison home games starting as low as $20! Visit ticketmaster.com or call 309-965-HERD to purchase tickets today.