Dustin Kingston scored two goals to lead Wayne State to a 5-3 win over Air Force Sunday at the Cadet Ice Arena.
Wayne State took three points in the series with a win and a tie and improved to 7-11-1 overall and 2-3-1 in the CHA. Air Force fell to 8-11-1 overall and 2-5-1 in the CHA. Both teams are tied for fourth with five league points.
For the second straight game, Wayne State lit the lamp first. Derek McKay scored a power-play goal from Keith Stanich and Steve Kovalchik at 4:32 of the first period on a rebound.
Two minutes later, the Falcons answered with their own power-play goal. Scott Zwiers tipped in a pass from Andy Berg at 6:26 to tie the game. Ryan Wiggins picked up his eighth assist of the season on the play.
The Falcons took the lead when Shane Saum scored a power-play goal at 15:38 of the first period. Saum tipped in another Berg pass for his third of the season. Defenseman Steve Mead collected his team-leading 15th assist of the season.
With four seconds left in the first period, Wayne State tied the score at 2-2. Derek MacKay took a shot from just inside the red line that was saved by Mike Polidor, but the rebound kicked out in front for Kingston, who scored his fifth of the season.
Twenty-two seconds into the second period, the Warriors took a 3-2 lead on Jack Redwood’s goal. WSU won the faceoff and Redwood scored on a rebound from Marc St. Jean and Nathan Rosychuk.
Two minutes into the third period, the Warriors extended to a two-goal advantage on Billy Collins’ shorthanded goal. With Tyler Kindle in the penalty box, Collins intercepted a pass in the neutral and skated in uncontested, beating Polidor unassisted.
Just over a minute later, the Falcons closed the gap to 4-3 on Josh Priewe’s first career goal. On a rush up ice, Mike Carrano’s shot was saved, but Priewe buried the rebound.
However, Kingston’s second goal of the night gave the Warriors the insurance goal again at 5:38. Jason Durbin won the faceoff and kicked the puck back to Kingston on the set play.
Wayne State was called for too many men on the ice with 3:52 remaining and the Falcons pulled Polidor from the net with 2:36 left, giving the Falcons a two-man advantage for 44 seconds. Polidor remained off the ice after the power play expired, and the Falcons had several scoring chances but could not beat Warrior netminder David Guerrera.
Wayne State outshot Air Force 38-26 in the game. The Falcons were 2-for-7 on the power play while WSU was 1-for-3. Polidor made 33 saves while Guerrera had 23.
Polidor made 74 saves in the series and has now made 30 or more saves in nine of his 19 starts.
