Walleye stay alive with Game 5 win

The 2019 Kelly Cup Finals presented by SmileDirectClub are headed back to Newfoundland following the Toledo Walleye's 3-2 win over the Newfoundland Growlers on Saturday in Game 5 in front of 8,558 fans at the Huntington Center. Newfoundland leads the best-of-seven series 3 games to 2.

The Walleye got off to a quick start with Tyler Spezia opening the scoring just 2:27 into the opening period. Ben Storm fed the puck to Spezia at the top of the crease, and after putting a move on goaltender Michael Garteig, slid a shot into the net for his third goal of the playoffs.

Marcus Power pulled the Growlers even at 13:12, guiding a shot past Pat Nagle at the top of the crease off of a feed from Sam Jardine.

Toledo went back ahead at 8:58 of the second period when Greg Wolfe fed Ryan Obuchowski skating down the left-wing side. Obuchowski outwaited Garteig and beat him for a shorthanded tally, his second goal of the playoffs. A.J. Jenks extended the Walleye lead to 3-1 just 1:36 later with a snap shot from the right-wing circle.

The Growlers got one back at 12:50 on Zach O'Brien's playoff-leading 16th goal of the postseason. O'Brien's 16 goals are tied for the second most in a single postseason in ECHL history, and just one off the all-time league playoff record.

The series heads back to Newfoundland for Game 6 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. NT. Catch all of the action LIVE on ECHL.TV.

2019 Kelly Cup FinalsGame 1 – Toledo 3 at NEWFOUNDLAND 4 (OT)Game 2 – Toledo 1 at NEWFOUNDLAND 2 (OT)Game 3 – Newfoundland 1 at TOLEDO 4Game 4 – NEWFOUNDLAND 4 at Toledo 2Game 5 – Newfoundland 2 at TOLEDO 3Game 6 – Toledo at Newfoundland – Tuesday, June 4 at 7 p.m. NTGame 7 – Toledo at Newfoundland – Wednesday, June 5 at 7 p.m. NT (If Necessary)